News RSS Feed Today is Groundhog Day, which always reminds me of the movie by the same name. In the movie version, Bill Murray plays a self-centered TV weatherman named Phil Connors, who, to his disdain, must again cover Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney. After delivering a woefully uninspiring account of events on Groundhog Day, Phil wakes up on Feb. 3 to find he is reliving the previous day. He is forced to repeat Groundhog Day--and, ultimately, his same mistakes--over and over again. It takes many miserable repeats before he reexamines his priorities and decides to change them. Sometimes we digital marketers do the same thing. We look up from our devices, scan the horizon, scratch our heads, and realize that, the more things have changed in the last 15 years, the more things have actually stayed the same. We all know that our programs need to be steeped in consumer relevance, powered by consumer insight, have clear goals defined so we can objectively evaluate afterwards, and be integrated across all touchpoints to surround the consumer in consistent and purposeful way. But somehow, like Phil, we relive the same moments and the same frustrations over and over, getting distracted by business goals, trends, hype, and sometimes, too many cooks in the kitchen. So in honor of Groundhog Day, here are five of the most often-repeated digital marketing mistakes…and tips on how to avoid them. 1.       Not getting user insight. The consumer/customer is where it all starts, right? It’s always a good idea to put our ideas or interfaces in front of real users and get their reactions, to observe behaviors and see what works and what doesn’t to make the product better. But if you miss this important step it’s still not too late to research after the fact. There are tools that can deliver user insight quickly and give you first impressions on your site design. It’s never too late to learn and evolve your work by identifying a consumer problem and defining the right digital solution. 2.       Not defining success in advance.  What I mean by that is not defining what success means and not defining how to evaluate whether an effort was a success by predetermined, objective criteria. How many times has a good-looking campaign gone out to rave reviews but when we are pressed to answer, we don’t exactly know why? A little time invested up front determining (and gaining cross-functional agreement on) program objectives and corresponding KPIs to confirm objectives, is time well spent.   3.       Not using a creative brief.  The project seems so simple and straightforward that a creative brief seems like overkill. Or your team has worked on the project for so long they feel they no longer need a creative brief because they know the client or product so well. Hold on! You’ll nearly always end up paying for this the hard way. Outlining communication priorities early on, even by way of a simple Word doc or email, can save you more costly, repeated creative rework later. 4.       Not adequately planning.   Often armed with a tight deadline, clients and account managers alike forego the planning--from briefs to requirements. So everything becomes an urgent fire, which sucks the air out of any additional planning. It’s a vicious, looping cycle. Although there’s never been a project with enough time to think things through as much as we’d like, we often spend too much time marinating on the wrong things due to unclear objectives, decisions unsupported by insight or ambiguous roles and responsibilities. On the other hand, you don't want to get burned by someone who's doing it looser and faster. So how do you navigate optimally between the appropriate level of planning and speed to market? You evolve. (It worked for Apple. It can work for the rest of us.) 5.       Not assigning clear roles.  Website build is still a “red-headed stepchild” in many organizations. Marketing wants to own it because it’s a channel. IT wants to own it because it’s code. Legal and compliance want to be involved to make sure no one says anything stupid. Customer service is concerned about increased traffic to the call center if the website isn’t working. The website still touches every department in the organization, but not everyone can be a chief. Tired of stepping on toes or worse, watching everyone take two steps back and having something important fall between the chairs?  This is one of those rare occasions where we might actually want a leadership committee (Marketing and IT) to set the strategy and execute against it, with all other departments informed about it.    So, even though Punxsutawney Phil told us today that there will be six more weeks of what has thus far been a pretty unwintery winter (at least here in Rochester, New York)…use these Groundhog Day tips to further hone your next digital marketing program. And may all the days you relive be great ones. P.S. Thanks to my Catalyst colleagues and friends at P2 Media and the Ad Council for the inspiration (and commiseration) that led to this blog.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/5-digital-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid-on-groundhog-day-kristin-lennarz.aspxDamir Saracevic, Director of Digital Marketing at Catalyst, a direct and digital marketing agency, has been chosen to judge the prestigious 2012 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC), sponsored by the Web Marketing Association. According to Web Marketing Association President William Rice, the IAC judges help set the standard of excellence for online advertising development and share their expertise to improve what is expected from online advertising. Saracevic brings to the IAC competition more than 15 years of experience developing and driving digital strategy. In 1995, he co-founded Auragen Communications, which grew to become one of the Northeast’s largest Web development and Internet marketing companies, and was acquired by Catalyst in 2007. Saracevic’s areas of expertise include Web development, user experience, mobile marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), display marketing, social media marketing, business process development, and Web analytics.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/damir-saracevic-to-judge-2012-iac-awards.aspxEver attend a creative presentation that was completely off-strategy from what you thought you asked for? Sure, the campaign looked nice, but it just didn’t work—at all. Now it’s back to the drawing board, and you’re looking at expensive revisions, an extended timeline, and maybe even a delay in your product launch. What the heck? What were those creative people thinking? Just like any other marketing discipline, creative people depend upon input and feedback to produce good work. You can greatly reduce (if not eliminate) frustration, costly delays, and missteps by making sure your agency’s creative department has these three things from the very beginning. 1. Feed us the facts. The most effective and creative marketing communications, whether print, Web, direct mail, or integrated campaigns, are founded on real-world data and the insights behind them. Essential information includes: • Clearly defined marketing and business objectives. Once your agency understands your business and marketing goals, they can recommend the best tactics and strategies to pursue. Do you want to introduce a new product, expand into new markets, grow market share, increase awareness of your brand, cross-sell to existing customers or all of the above? Be sure to define the benchmarks you’ll be using to determine whether the effort has been successful. Is it the number of email opens? An increase in website hits? Or is it the number of prospects who convert? • Audience data. Your agency must thoroughly understand your audience’s demographics and mindset. Research, such as interviews and focus groups, will help the agency define personas, which are detailed profiles of people in your target audience. Personas provide the entire marketing team with valuable insights into the type of messaging and offers that will entice a prospect to become a customer. Studying the target audience also allows the creative team to “walk in their shoes” and reach a deeper understanding of the emotional and practical motivations that may influence a purchase or response. • Insights into the marketplace. Who are the competitors? How do their products/services compare? What are the barriers to success? How is the product currently positioned? Do you want to change the positioning and how? Research and data from past efforts can be invaluable here. • Product details. The more your agency knows about the product or service, the better they can talk about it. Understanding all the features is essential, but it is even more important to narrow those features down to the unique selling point (USP) or competitive differentiator. When defining the USP, keep in mind the following: the target audience’s priorities and needs, the product’s advantages over the competition and findings from prior efforts. Presenting one powerful benefit is much more compelling than presenting a long list of features, so narrow them down to the one that delivers the most valuable benefit to your audience. For example, a unique feature of a car might be that it includes safety elements not found on other cars. (Think Volvo.) A benefit—what’s in it for the customer—is that by choosing this car, the owner will have peace of mind knowing his or her family will be safe on the road. This could lead to a unique selling point/positioning: “Volvo makes cars that keep families safe.” Now the creative team can focus on coming up with unique ways to present the safety message. Other features such as the car’s reliability, mileage, etc. become supporting points to the overall message. • Budget and timing. Be very, very clear about this. The most amazing creative solution in the world won’t work if it can’t be finished within time, technology or budget requirements. Knowing these things ahead of time can help your creative agency develop an approach that is original but will also work within the confines of the real world. 2. We need the ingredients, not the recipe. By all means, share ideas and suggestions when giving input. But don't make them requirements. Telling your agency how to solve the problem sets up barriers and hampers creative thought. Give them a chance to look at the big picture, turn it upside down and explore solutions. Some will work, some won’t. When they have solid information to work with, the agency should be able to sort out the good from the bad before you ever see a comp. Even better, you’ll get more interesting and unique solutions if you give them the freedom to try new things. And it’s much better (and easier) to scale back a fantastic, unique idea than to have to make an OK idea shine. 3. Give us time to digest. After getting all of these wonderful insights and bouncing around some initial ideas, the agency’s creative team will mix them up, rethink them, cross-examine them, generate new ideas, evaluate them vs. the input, and refine them. The first idea might be very good—but it’s almost never the “best” idea. Giving creative folks time to re-evaluate ideas a day or two later (sleeping on it) helps them see at solutions from a new perspective. Brainstorming, bouncing ideas off others, and incorporating feedback and constructive criticism helps encourage fresh thinking and improves solutions. Creativity can't be forced. Just as too many requirements from the beginning can stunt creativity, too much organized, logical thought can be counter-productive. Taking a break by working on something else, or just doing everyday tasks like walking around the block, allows ideas to percolate and grow. Daydreaming and random association are two known methods for coming up with fresh ideas. Both lead the brain to arrive at conclusions in unexpected ways. Einstein was aware of this:"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." It’s how creative people do their best work. Keep in mind, the more limited the timeline, the fewer options you’ll have to choose from, and they may not be as well thought out as you—or your agency--were hoping. More time and thought invested up front almost always saves time and reduces revisions in the end. Now that you’ve fed the creative teams with facts and given them the liberty and flexibility to generate new ideas, be prepared to be delighted and surprised (in a good way) by what you see. If you have given your agency the time and information they need, you’ll receive a solid range of on-strategy solutions to choose from. In fact, you may have difficulty choosing, even when the agency has a recommendation (which they should). If budget allows, you could even decide to test the two best approaches to determine which results in the best ROI. A much better situation than having to start over!http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/3-things-to-feed-your-ageny-jennifer-wagner.aspxPundits are saying that 2012 will finally be The Year of Mobile Marketing. But what will it take to use the channel effectively? Are you ready and able to fully integrate mobile into your offline and online marketing initiatives? We've put what you need to know into a PowerPoint authored by Damir Saracevic, our director of digital marketing, and Dan Beca, our director of solutions design. Read it here: Mobile Marketing: What You Need to Know Now  http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/mobile-marketing.aspxCatalyst today announced the hiring of Marc Solomon as the company’s new director of analytics, and Dan Keating as the company’s new director of technology. Solomon previously was vice president of consumer marketing and analytics at Opower and vice president of marketing and analysis at Capital One. He brings more than 15 years of analytics experience working for Fortune 500 brands, and holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Solomon specializes in identifying hidden insights within customer, market and operational data and turning them into actionable business outcomes. He will report directly to the company’s two managing directors. Keating becomes the agency’s new technology director, and will lead its database development, Web development and software engineering teams in unifying technology and marketing to produce breakthrough results for Catalyst’s clients. Keating has held leadership roles at Oracle, AVT Technologies and TheKnot.com, and managed projects for Apple, Abbott, Dell, SAP, 7-Eleven, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York, AOL and QVC. Keating also collaborated on the marketing book, The Elements of Influence (Dutton, 2006.) He holds an MBA from the University of Rochester. He will report to the company’s chief operations officer. Catalyst also has hired Debra Strub to direct its quality assurance group, added Andrew LaManna as director of its project management group and hired Steve Wagner as a senior data analyst. The five new hires bring the agency’s total employee count to more than 80, representing a workforce increase of more than 10% in six months.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/marc-solomon-dan-keating.aspxThere’s an old Chinese proverb: “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.” If you’re thinking this philosophy only applies to marketing in the B2C space, you’d be wrong.  The fact is, emotion plays a much bigger role in B2B than most people think--especially in today’s world of social media saturation and information overload.  People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it; and then they justify their belief with all the rational stuff you give them. There’s a great book by Annette Simmons on how storytelling shapes decisions and actions that are important to both individuals and organizations, titled Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins.  In it she states, “People don’t want information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith--faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.” Sounds good in theory, but I work with a lot of B2B marketers who believe professional customers make complex buying decisions based on functionality, price and quality. They say their customers need facts, not faith. Not so fast. Assume that all B2B marketers provide facts. So what exactly is it that differentiates one competitor from another? You Gotta Have Faith I’d argue that closing the final sale hinges more on your ability to draw the seller and buyer closer to each other emotionally than on any set of features and benefits. By emotionally connecting with your buyer, by telling the world what you believe in, you can differentiate yourself, sell more effectively, get prospects excited, and enlist them to your cause. You attract people who believe what you believe--and they’ll help you attract others like them. According to Dan Hill’s book Emotionomics, 80% of all decisions are emotionally based. Emotions matter. Even in business. CFOs, engineers, procurement personnel--at the end of the day, they’re people too, and they take their personalities to work with them.  So while your proposition might be pitch-perfect … unless you inject a little emotion into your story, why should you expect anybody to truly care? The trick is tapping into the right emotions. With corporate clients, your appeals need to address their need for positive emotional feedback (such as greater success) and protect them from negative emotional consequences (failures or headaches). It’s basic, but powerful. If your marketing can persuade your target that your product will satisfy their emotional needs better than the competition, the sale is within reach. The only thing left to do is provide the facts and figures they need to justify acting on those emotions. Faith and the Funnel If you think about the typical sales funnel, most companies start by explaining what the product/service is and then follow up with why it makes sense to buy it, before moving on to explain how it works. The assumption is that by following these three steps, the salesperson will build up enough trust to close the sale. It’s a fairly universal process. Interestingly though, Coulson-Thomas Publications recently published a study conducted among 4,000 companies--“Winning Companies; Winning People”--that essentially proved that the best sales performers actually start at the other end of the process. Those performers start out looking to sell what their company stands for and believes in first. They focus their time and energy on instilling faith. Whether it’s excitement and anticipation, reassurance and confidence, or any other strong emotional response, they concentrate on offering a glimpse of what the customer can expect from the relationship--a small indication of brand interaction on a personal level. Only then do they use all the other rational stuff to help their prospect make the case for the sale internally. Involve your prospect. Make them feel something. Inspire them to care. Give them a reason to invest on an emotional level. Done right, it’s a masterful process. By focusing on faith first and facts second, we can create the kind of experiences that build trust, deepen relations and deliver results--creating true believers. And isn’t that what it’s really all about?http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/b2b-marketing-frank-magnera.aspxRelationships are about people. People make buying decisions. Sometimes that’s forgotten in B2B, where we tend to focus on job responsibilities, cost savings, profitability, efficiency, and a host of other very rational, very logical attributes. But it’s the human component, the emotional relationship you build with your prospects, that ultimately closes the sale. In this white paper, authored by Catalyst managing director Jeff Cleary, we'll look at how to design a formal lead nurturing process that effectively aligns marketing and sales, is developed collaboratively, and establishes a relevant dialog that: • Identifies influencers, specifiers and decision makers • Initiates conversations that lead to better understanding • Nurtures interest regardless of buying time frame • Is dynamic and responsive to what you learn along the way • Shares a contact history in a common environment that includes measurement data and decision-making data • Mines for individual data that results in prosciutto-thin segmentation   Download it here. Or click the following link: Plugging the Gap Between Lead Generation and Marketing Automationhttp://www.catalystinc.com/releases/whitepaper-cleary-it's-the-relationship.aspxAre you paying for clicks that don’t perform well or are unrelated to your business? Focusing on negatives is not a great way to live your life, but it can be gold in the PPC (pay-per-click) marketing world. Negative keywords are one way to filter out unwanted impressions.  Once you add them to your campaign and/or ad groups, your ads won’t appear for any searches that contain these terms.  This helps you spend your advertising dollars more efficiently, increase your click-through rate and your quality score, reduce your average cost per click, and ultimately, improve your ROI. Let’s say you sell red paperclips. You might notice that a significant amount of your paid search traffic is coming from searches like “blue paperclips.” You probably don’t want to pay for clicks from users looking for something you don’t carry.  Time to add a negative keyword for “blue paperclips.”  Now, your ads won’t show up on searches containing both terms.  (It won’t prevent ads from showing up if either “blue” or “paperclips” is specified in your ad campaign or ad group.) How to find your negative keywords? Google’s Search Query Report. Look at your campaign or ad group keywords and click the “See search terms” button. This shows you the terms Google is matching to your keywords.  Now export your data to Excel®.  Sort your spreadsheet by number of impressions, from high to low.  Start looking for search terms that you don’t want associated with your campaigns.  Make the list as small and effective as you can. Using the example above, you wouldn’t need “blue paperclips” if you already had “blue” as a negative keyword. Be careful when adding broad category terms such as “paperclips”… if you’re too general, it can adversely affect your overall traffic. Once you add negative keywords to your campaign, you should start to see positive results almost immediately.  Who knew life could get so much better just by being more negative? In addition to negative keywords, there are many other ways to optimize a PPC campaign:  deleting keywords, deleting ads, using keyword insert, using more long-tail keywords and fewer general terms, bid adjustments,  and different matching options (to name just a few).  We’d be happy to help you optimize your campaign using some or all of these methods. Give us a call if you’d like to learn more.  http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/negative-keywords-david-laney.aspxComing to NCDM in Las Vegas, December 12-14? Stop by Booth 113 and say howdy. NCDM, The Conference for Engaging Customers Using Data & Technology, brings suppliers and decision makers together to find practical approaches to today's marketing challenges using customer data and technology. With previous speakers from companies such as NYTimes.com, Disney, Zappos, and Harrah’s Entertainment, it attracts executive, director and managerial professionals from a broad spectrum of industries who are responsible for their company's marketing and database initiatives, including: analytics, marketing optimization, customer engagement, CRM, loyalty & retention, interactive marketing, and much more For more information visit NCDM.  http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/ncdm2011.aspxCatalyst, a direct and digital marketing agency based in Rochester, New York, has expanded its workforce by more than ten percent to accommodate significant growth. New account wins within the last six months include First Niagara Financial Group and Neff Motivation Inc. The agency, which currently employs about 80 people, recently has added the following positions: Client Services Account Director--Peter Dawson Digital Services Digital Strategist--Kristin Lennarz Digital Analyst, User Experience--Nancy McCrave Digital Analyst, User Experience--Jill Hewitt Project Management Project Manager--Diana Casale Project Manager--Brad Foust, Rochester Analytics Director of Analytics--Marc Solomon Data Analyst--Rhonda Schnell Database Marketing Analyst--Chris DiMuro Technology Director of Technology--Dan Keating SQL Database Developer--Wendy Engström Quality Assurance Director of Quality Assurance--Debra Strub Quality Assurance Analyst--Sue Gallacher “Given the stagnant job growth in much of the economy, we are grateful to be in a position to expand our business,” said Managing Director Michael Osborn. “We are experiencing a high level of growth, particularly in our digital business, from current clients and we’ve won several new accounts. We’re looking to hire more people immediately.” The agency is advertising the following open positions: Account Director Group Account Director Senior Account Executive SQL Database Developer Senior Marketing Analyst Marketing Analyst Senior Data Analyst Production Manager--Part Time For job descriptions and more information, please visit the Catalyst web site.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/growth-year-end-2011.aspxLearn how Catalyst overhauled Kodak Motion Picture Film’s capture page, added more opt-ins, initiated triggered emails, and integrated social media channels to grow Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging email audience by a whopping 33%.  Add to that a 143% increase in Twitter followers, 53% increase in YouTube subscribers, and a 4% increase in Facebook fans.  “The Kodak Entertainment Imaging case study is a perfect example of how focusing on the right things and making small changes can drive results.  Their team is such a pleasure to work with – they understand permission based marketing and they are reaping the rewards,” said Lora Downie, Catalyst’s email strategist, who developed the program. Read the full case study on MarketingSherpa’s web site here: List Growth Tactics: How Kodak added 33% more email subscribers and 53% more YouTube followers http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/kodak-marketingsherpa-case-study.aspxEarlier this year, I wrote a blog about Near Field Communications (NFC) titled “Wallets Are So Last Year.” But is NFC really poised for prime time?  My numbers say: Yes. 5.  Things that NFC will make obsolete in the coming years Quick Response (QR) Codes—Instead of scanning a 2-D bar code with a special application, consumers will simply place their phone close to an NFC-enabled object Credit Cards—No more swiping cards or worrying about magnetic strips fading. Just tap and pay with your phone Loyalty Cards—No more key chains full of plastic. Your phone will now replace ALL of your loyalty cards Paper Tickets—Tap and board an airplane, tap and go to the movies, tap and enter the stadium Key Fobs—Unlock your car by getting close to it with your phone.  Enter your workplace without having to swipe an ID badge or key fob 29.  The number of handsets that currently support NFC (Thanks, Wikipedia).  Nokia currently has the most support handsets, but some of the bigger players in the smartphone arena are starting to include NFC in their handsets (Samsung, HTC).  Look for this number to jump dramatically in 2012.  Apple, are you listening?  135.  The number of companies who participate in the NFC Forum  The NFC Forum is a group of companies designed to foster the NFC ecosystem (manufacturers, financial institutions, education/research institutions, etc.).  A number of big-name companies are a part of this organization (See: Microsoft, Samsung, MasterCard, AT&T, among others). 102,367ish. The number of marketers waiting for NFC to become mainstream so that they can execute more effective, more engaging, more customer-centric marketing campaigns. Imagine being able to tap a movie poster and instantly watch a movie trailer!  Or be able to put your phone near a sticker to enter a contest--instead of having to send an SMS to a meaningless 5-digit number. In the future, consumers are going to love how easy it is to respond to marketing, and companies will love the increased response. The numbers don’t lie—NFC is gaining steam. Bonus Number: 1.         The number of companies that I think will push NFC into the mainstream   Apple. Apple has been an innovator in the mobile space, and with their over 250 million iOS devices, incorporating NFC into their product lineup could really bolster the adoption of NFC, allowing it to become a mainstream marketing tool.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/nfc-by-the-numbers-beca.aspxAre you using your digital learnings to improve your direct mail strategy? In a column, “Utilize Digital Channels for Direct Mail that Resonates,” which appeared in the November 1, 2011 issue of Direct Marketing News, Karen Menachof, chief client officer at Catalyst, a Rochester, New York-based direct and digital marketing agency, explained how to apply search, personal URLS (PURLS) and website tagging to increase direct mail relevance and improve program performance.   “In the old days, you sent out a mailing and waited for the orders to roll in,” Menachof said. “Either they did or they didn’t. Testing was expensive, time-consuming and often beyond the reach of smaller marketers.  “Today, however, you have a constant, real-time, actionable feedback loop of online data that you can use to improve your offline programs,” she said.  “If you’re not applying these learnings, you’re missing a great opportunity to integrate the two channels.” Read the full column in Direct Marketing News at: Utilize Digital Channels for Direct Mail that Resonates Or view the PDF here:  http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/menachof-utilize-digital-channels.aspxFrank Magnera, an award-winning business-to-business marketing expert and account director at Catalyst (Rochester, New York), has been chosen to judge the 2012 Business Marketing Association (BMA) ACE awards. Hailed as “one of the industry’s best creative awards” by The New York Times, The ACE (Advertising Creative Excellence) Awards recognize the year’s top creative campaigns and executions, the people who conceive them and the agencies and clients who successfully elevate brand and drive demand.  Sponsored by the Business Marketing Association’s New York City chapter, the competition will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2012. Magnera has developed B2B programs for Catalyst since 2005, specializing in strategy development and customer relationship management. He brings a broad range of expertise to the ACE awards, including predictive analytics, Web analytics, lead generation and prospect nurturing, email marketing, creative development, search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), non-profit marketing, and copywriting. His B2B client experience includes The Eastman Kodak Company, Heraeus Kulzer, ITT, Pitney Bowes, Weyerhaeuser, Carestream Health, and Xeikon, among others. Other 2012 ACE judges include Lisa Abbatello, Leo Burnett; Jerry Canning, Google; Kathleen Delaney, AON Corporation; Dale Durrent, LinkedIn; John Favolo, Eric Mower and Associates; Marie MacLean, Pall Corporation; Dana Mangnuson, J.P. Morgan; Katerina Martchouk, Winsper Advertising; Nicola Morris, Verizon; Kathleen O’Malley, O’Malley Communications; Judy Pribe, Kodak; Joe Rivas, Y&R; Bruce Rogers, Forbes; Laura Rogers, Campbell-Ewald, and Keith Turco, GYRO NY. For more information about the ACE awards, visit the BMA-NY.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/magnera-ace-judge.aspxDo you really know what your best keywords are? Do you really know which ad copy will generate the best response from your customers? If you haven’t done Pay-Per-Click (PPC) research, you probably don’t. Using PPC, also known as Paid Search, to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) research is not only smart, it’s fast and it’s inexpensive. You can get feedback almost instantly, and you can change things on the fly. SEO takes much longer and it’s a bigger investment. So why not optimize that investment by doing some low-cost, up-front paid search? You can use PPC to improve organic rankings and increase conversions. Here’s a step-by-step guide for doing effective PPC research. 1. Define your business goals What do you want to achieve? Sales, leads, downloads? Clearly define your business goals and objectives. 2. Create your keyword list Be sure to cast a wide net--this process is all about discovery. Sometimes consumers search for keywords differently than those in the industry. Using variations and synonyms can help you uncover some gems. 3. Build your campaign The rest is just implementing PPC basics: Create ad groups from the keyword list with tightly grouped themes Be sure to add negative keywords for terms that you don’t want associated with your campaign Write ads that reflect the keywords and business goals Always include a clear call to action in the ad copy If possible, send the traffic to the landing page most relevant to the keyword and ad copy content Make sure your goals are set up properly in analytics--track as much as you can 4. Monitor and tweak the campaign Once you start your campaign you should be able to tell what’s working and what’s not within a few weeks. The key metrics to monitor are clicks, click-through rate, conversions, conversion rate, and bounce rate. Use the Google AdWords search query report to find more keywords and keyword phrases that are being matched to your existing list. Add the high-volume keywords and any new synonyms to your campaign. Add more negative keywords if necessary. Try your ads with and without keyword insert (be careful not to include competitor brands with dynamic keyword insert).   You should run the test for at least one month to ensure you have enough actionable data. A three-month test is even better. 5. Apply the results to SEO When your PPC research campaign is over, it’s time to apply your findings to your SEO. Start with your keywords. Find the best 10-15 top-performing keywords. There are many tools out there to help you determine the ranking difficulty of keywords. You’re better off avoiding the most competitive keywords right away, because it will be very difficult to rank high, if not impossible.  You want to find high-converting, high-volume keywords with low-to-medium competitiveness.  If you have the budget, you should keep your optimized PPC campaign running. This will help drive additional high-quality traffic to your site with measurable ROI. Analyze your ad copy. Use your best-performing ads as a guide for your title and description tags. You can even use your title and description tags as an “ad” for your site. When writing your titles and descriptions, don’t be afraid to include things like pricing, deadlines, excitement and a strong call to action. In addition, be sure to include your keywords in places like heading tags, alt tags, anchor text, URLs, file names, navigation, etc. Finally, analyze the content on the rest of the site. Add unique keywords, titles and descriptions to each page. Incorporate them into your content and tags naturally. Make it look serendipitous and don’t overstuff them. Other ways to use your newly researched keywords Leverage your keywords in blogs and video content, which will boost your SEO rankings. Use them in social media--for example, tweet keyword-rich questions to your followers and retweet the best answers.  You can get a lot of mileage out of a single low-cost, well-planned PPC research program.  Give it a try and see.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/paid-search-for-seo-research.aspxAs a messaging tool, email hasn't changed much since its inception. But as a marketing tool, email has evolved dramatically over the years. Those who evolve with the channel will be wildly successful, and those who refuse to catch up will be on a path to stagnation. I visited a Gap retail store on Sunday afternoon, and by the time I pulled into my driveway, I had received an email from them with a copy of my receipt. This email exemplifies how email marketing is succeeding today. With a single message, Gap manages to: Show cross-channel thinking (offline to online, email and SMS promotion) Drive optimal user experience Increase customer satisfaction Leverage the personal nature of the inbox (ideal for receiving personal information and filing information/storage) Even though this is a simple idea, everything about it screams forward-thinking, and it works on so many levels: I am not one to keep hard-copy receipts.  I am also typically an online shopper, and am accustomed to storing receipts in my email.  Not only do I now have a copy of my receipt in case I want to return my item, but they have laid the foundation for an optimal return experience.  Instead of losing my receipt or walking in and complaining that I didn't know I only had 60 days to get a refund--I have their complete return policy front and center (along with the actual "Return by Date"). I didn't request this receipt to be sent to me electronically, and the cashier didn't mention it at check-out, probably because I was already opted-in to receive Gap's promotional emails.  I'm assuming that if I wasn't, the cashier would have noticed this in their POS system and prompted me to opt-in.  These e-receipts are a great opportunity to opt-in at point of sale!  And they don't have to offer any monetary incentive--just this service.  So double whammy here: great service-oriented opt-in offer and wonderful use of POS and ESP integration. From a design perspective, this works.  I initially read it on my smartphone and the purpose of the message and branding were clear (and it rendered beautifully). The mirroring of an actual receipt drove credibility and consistency.  The additional top navigation was a good technique to drive subsequent traffic.  And the light use of imagery reinforced the brand and made me feel like part of the Gap club. Their cross-channel promotion of SMS offers in the footer copy of the receipt optimized the copy as well as the customer experience by showing users that Gap gives them options! Will e-receipts drive higher ROI?  Possibly.  The top navigation might also drive a  level of incremental site traffic (cross-selling is really the largest missed opportunity here).  But what this e-receipt does exceptionally well is create a solid, brand-enforcing customer experience, increase loyalty and encourage sharing.  The lack of social sharing might be the only other missed opportunity...if Gap had provided an easy mechanism to share my experience socially, I would have clicked it in a heartbeat! Gap keeps email alive with their innovative uses and cross-channel applications (as does Apple and other forward-thinking brands). They exemplify the direction this channel is headed.  Siloed, one-dimensional email programs are a thing of the past.  I'm excited to be part of an industry that continues to innovate and evolve.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/email-evolution.aspxMost marketers are so focused on getting the next email out the door that they don’t take the time to give their subscribers the attention they deserve. With a little time and analysis, your subscriber and website data can uncover invaluable information about your email program, email content, and point you in the right direction for future growth. Catalyst’s Lora Downie shares with you three secrets of effective subscriber management and the three ways to drive the most revenue from your best asset: your subscribers. Download Whitepaper: How to Drive Higher ROI From Your Email Subscribershttp://www.catalystinc.com/releases/whitepaper-email.aspxOn September 23 a movie about baseball's front offices will be opening in theaters across the country, starring some fellow I'm often mistaken for (just kidding...it's Clooney I'm always mistaken for…ok, so a young Steve Carrell), based on the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis. The book focuses on Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who took a rigorous, statistically heavy analytics approach to signing players, an approach that often flew in the face of conventional wisdom.    The premise of Beane's strategy was to focus on players who got on base frequently, and it relied heavily on a statistic calling OPS (on-base average + slugging percentage). In action it looked something like this: Although a big-budget team could pay a third baseman like Alex Rodriguez $25 million a year, using OPS you could pay a player 20% of that, yet get well over 60% of the same results. The concept fascinates me, and I think about how we can apply it to marketing. If I were to compare a business to the players on a baseball team, I'd break it out as follows: Product--Starting Pitchers One factor you can’t overlook about Billy Beane's success managing the A’s is that he was blessed with unbelievably talented, young starting pitchers. A company can do all sorts of great marketing, but the product has to be great for long-term success. Great starting pitching is the most surefire way to build a killer baseball team. Sales--Closers Always be closing.  ‘Nuff said. Customer Service--Relief Pitching Middle relief pitchers are usually faced with tough situations created by their starting pitchers, and they do their best to smooth things over. That sounds a lot like customer care to me. Offense--Marketing This is when you get runs, or customers. This is also where Beane's principles are most applicable to business.  You could spend tons of money on an interactive marketing campaign that's flashy and has banners all over various Websites, with direct mail pieces pointing to a microsite (think A-Rod), and you might get stellar returns. But you could also get 80% of the return from a small, highly optimized, far less expensive SEM campaign with a basic landing page. (Think solid third baseman with decent power, who draws a ton of walks.) So be sure to ask yourself how much that extra 20% is worth to you. It's worth noting that the Oakland A’s never won a World Series, and it probably wouldn't have hurt Beane to occasionally deviate from his rules. There are some nonmeasurable intangibles that you can't capture with statistics, such as guys who thrive in the moment, or whose leadership makes their teammates better.  Big, multichannel campaigns have important branding impact that isn't easily measured.  An ideal offense needs to include smart, budget-conscious investments that deliver a great ROI, along with thoughtful, larger campaigns designed to move the brand forward.  The combination delivers a one-two pitch that will help your company score every time.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/moneyball-marketing.aspxCatalyst, a Rochester, New York-based direct and digital marketing agency, today won two WebAward Competition awards from the Web Marketing Association for their Web development work for Eastman Kodak  Co. and The Hillside Family of Agencies. To launch Kodak's i4000 Scanner Series, Catalyst developed a content-rich microsite to serve as the hub of a multichannel campaign. The site, located at www.shapei4000.kodak.com, included video, industry news, educational materials, product offers, and a free, downloadable independent report from Forrester Research, Inc. The Hillside Website (www.hillside.com) utilized the industry-leading platform developed by Ektron, Inc., a Catalyst partner. Ektron's content management system allowed Hillside Family of Agencies to easily update and add content without further help or incurred costs from an outside vendor.  The site included customizable search options, informative podcasts, rich content, and interactive elements. The Web Marketing Association produces the WebAward Competition. Now in its 15th year, the WebAward program is the premier annual Website award competition.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/web-marketing-awards.aspxA few months ago, we talked about ‘flash cookies’ and the privacy issues those cookies created.  Since then, some companies were sued and Quantcast settled for $2.4 million.  Fast-forward to today, and more sites, lured by the promise of attribution and comprehensive user tracking, have landed in hot water for using KISSmetrics--a third-party analytics provider. Wired.com broke the story and two major clients, Hulu and Spotify, quickly pulled the service, but still found themselves the target of a potential class-action privacy lawsuit.  Meanwhile, KISSmetrics has updated their privacy policy, switched to a first-party cookie, and provided a means to opt-out of their tracking entirely. The response to this privacy issue has been swift, but KISSmetrics is hardly the only company selling these services.  In fact, flash cookies are a drop in the bucket compared to the larger data collection machine that is Facebook. Consider this: if you are using a social plug-in, such as the Facebook ‘Like’ button, you are placing a beacon on all of your pages and Facebook is collecting that data.  Indeed, Facebook “creates an impression log every time a signed in member views a Like button or social plug-in on a third-party site, regardless of whether or not they interact with it.” (clickz.com) This means, though a flash cookie will track you across browsers, if you are signed into Facebook, Facebook will track you across browsers, devices and any website that has its social plug-in.  Talk about mountains of data. So next time you hear about the amazing insights a vendor may provide, make sure you understand how they are collecting the data.  Weigh the pros and cons.  In finance you never talk about returns without talking about risk; in analytics never talk about data without talking about privacy.  Keep that in mind when you hear a too-good-to-be-true insight promised, and you’ll save yourself a boatload of trouble. When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/more-privacy-lessons-schuette.aspxBackground AAA offered three membership levels: Basic, Plus and Premier. Each membership was annually renewable. The association wanted to identify who its most profitable customers were and reduce the level of annual attrition. They also hoped to move customers from roadside-only service to other more profitable AAA services, such as travel. Their business objective: To increase average member three-year net revenue by 30%. Our approach Our analytics team began with a Customer Value Analysis to segment High Value customers, Low Value customers and identify trending patterns. The data clearly showed that, true to the Pareto Principle, the top 20% of customers generated the highest value. We then asked:  Where did these top customers come from? How do we keep more of them? How do we find others just like them? Next, Catalyst built a Lifetime Value Model to predict who was likely to become AAA’s best customers within a three-year period. What we learned Former members looked more like that top 20% than never-ever members.  It was more effective to make reactivating them a priority The membership level purchased did not predict long-term customer value—people who bought the most expensive membership did not necessarily become best customers The association was spending more to engage certain segments  than the value of their purchase Promoting all levels of membership at the same time increased purchase of the more profitable Plus and Premier memberships  Our strongest offers produced higher first-year attrition…but over time, yielded more profitable customers  Putting it into action Once best prospects were identified, we increased contact frequency We developed a specific contact strategy to reactivate former members and reduced higher-cost acquisition mailings We eliminated mail to lowest-value prospects Did it work? A test to former members resulted in a 300% lift over never-ever members After three years, the strongest membership offer produced 50% more paid memberships Providing a clear explanation of all three membership levels increased Plus and Premier memberships by more than 750% After three years, average per-member net revenue is projected to increase by 30%  http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/aaa-case-study.aspxEastman Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division had a common email marketing challenge: subscribers were leaving or disengaging faster than they were being added. They approached Catalyst, a Rochester, New York-based direct and digital marketing agency, to help them attract new, high-quality email subscribers and integrate their social channels into the marketing mix. The resulting strategies and tactics, which included organic growth and cross-channel integration, will be presented by Lora Downie, Catalyst’s Digital Analyst-Email Specialist, at ExactTarget’s prestigious Connections 2011 conference, to be held September 13-15 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Presenting in the “Grow: How to Acquire Email Subscribers, Facebook Fans, & Twitter Followers” track, Downie will detail how the partnership between Kodak and Catalyst, capitalizing on the ExactTarget email platform, has paved the way for growth in Kodak Entertainment Imaging’s email subscriber and social community bases. Downie said she would cover a capture audit approach, reactivation strategy, website optimization tricks, event marketing and text message integration, and tips to acquire social media and community followers. She will be joined by Alyson Shurtliff, internet marketing manager for Eastman Kodak Entertainment Imaging. Connections 2011 attracts more than 3,000 of the world's top internet marketers. For more information or to register, visit http://www.connections2011.com/.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/lora-downie-connections.aspxI just learned a new card game: Four Card Golf.  In less than a week I learned to play the game, played a large number of rounds, won my first match and ended up teaching three new people the game.  I don’t typically learn a lot of new games, so why did this one stand out? How did I get so addicted that I became an evangelist for the game? It all happened along a sort of ideal marketing path: Awareness--I saw some friends playing it in the lunch room and asked what it was called. I only offered up that I was interested. Promotion--A few days later, I was encouraged to play a round during lunch.  I was pitched on how much fun it was and that there were bragging rights involved! Trial--We first played a trial hand with all cards showing.  I learned the basic rules of the game without punishment or commitment. Experience--The game itself is fairly easy to learn, but there are lots of little strategic elements that keep it interesting and kept me learning on each round.  Like an executive golf course, it's played over nine rounds...short enough to keep me playing, but long enough for me to feel satisfied when I'm done. Reward--According to the friendly group rules around the lunch table, the winner must take a pic of the score sheet and tag all the players on Facebook for some friendly ribbing. Naturally, as beginner’s luck would have it, I won my first game and posted the score sheet.  I then got kudos and questions from friends and family about what game I won. Advocate--I, of course, was more than happy to share my winning results, but was also excited to play again.  The next day I recruited my neighbors for a game.  Unfortunately for me, as beginner’s luck would have it, my neighbor won, and posted her score sheet on Facebook.  The interaction then went viral as her friends and family interacted with her post. I bet you see where I'm going here.  It's a concept called gamification, and it's about bringing the most interactive, rewarding and fun elements of gameplay into marketing campaigns such as loyalty programs, nurturing campaigns and company Facebook pages. While gamification is a fairly new concept in the marketing world, it’s catching on quickly. “By 2014, a gamified service for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will becomeas important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon.” --Gartner Group Press Release So what did I learn from the simple game of Four Card Golf? 1. Make it easy to get started, with little to no risk 2. Bring your customers along slowly and teach them as they go 3. Reward them for sharing their results 4. And, most important, make it fun! We can learn even more about gamified interactions from complex games that involve and drive players through their experiences for countless hours. There is no need to reinvent the marketing wheel; the foundation is there. It’s time to incorporate what we already know--from simple card games to complex role-playing computer games--around what motivates us, engages us, makes us advocates, and ultimately keeps us coming back for more.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/gamification.aspxR.I.P., loyalty cards, credit cards, debit cards, QR codes, key fobs, airline tickets, any other kind of tickets, and maybe the driver’s license and passports.  NFC is about to replace you all.  No, I’m not talking about the National Football Conference, but rather near field communication. As a consumer, I’m pretty excited to finally ditch that wallet that’s been sitting in my back pocket slowly giving me back problems from all the receipts, credit cards, business cards, and even the occasional two or three dollars of cash (I know, it’s so 1990s of me).  And it’ll be nice to have one less fob on my keychain (did I mention it’s got the potential to replace the keys to your car at some point as well?).  But as a marketer, I’m also pretty excited about NFC.  Sure, the ability to pay for things with your phone will be nifty, but it’s actually the other experiences that I’m thrilled about.  See an ad on the wall for a new movie, put your phone next to the poster, and bam—you’re watching the movie trailer.  No need to download and futz around with a QR reader for your phone…with NFC it just happens.  Want to sign up to get new offers at your favorite clothing shop, boom—you tap your phone on the counter as you check out and you’re signed up.  No need to visit a mobile site or type in your email address, it just happens.  So why is this improvement in experience important?  Loyalty.  How does a brand get loyal customers?  It’s all about engagement.  NFC is going to vastly improve the consumer experience, which will ultimately lead to more engagement by customers.  A more engaged customer translates to a more loyal customer.  NFC is going to be the marketer’s new best friend. So when are we going to actually start seeing NFC in mobile phones?  Soon!  Very soon!  Google® (Google Wallet) and PayPal™ (NFC payments) already have payment solutions in the works.  These are small steps toward a fully digital wallet, but it’s sure to motivate a few other players to kick it into gear and get their NFC offerings into consumers’ hands.  And while some consumers may not be ready to ditch that wallet just yet (see: George Costanza), I think most are going to get pretty excited about the possibilities.  And as a marketer, I’m already thinking about all the cool things I can do for my clients with NFC.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/mobile-nfc.aspxIn analytics, choosing the right way to attack a problem is one of the most critical early-stage decisions in the problem-solving process.  Selecting the wrong approach can lead to overwork or rework, wasting valuable time and resources. So how do you figure out the correct approach?  The secret is to clearly define what you are trying to learn.  It’s easy to get so wrapped up in your data that you get sidetracked by information that, although interesting, is ancillary to the main issue.  As fun as this may be for analysts, it can lead to a lack of focus and generate a solution that complicates the issue rather than solving it.  Clearly stating the goal right from the outset makes it much easier to perform successful analytics. Once your goal is established, you can move onto the next task: determining the right way to get to the solution.  Sometimes the question is one that should be answered through testing instead of analytics. For example, variable offers. Does $10 off $50 work better than 20% off?  Which version of creative will drive the greatest response?    But if your goal is to truly understand customer behavior, testing alone won’t get you there. To yield the greatest insights, you must also perform analysis on historical data. What kinds of questions can analysis help you answer?  A few examples: How likely are customers to buy again if you don’t continue to contact them?  How many times must you contact them to get them to buy?  How often did they purchase a product that wasn’t advertised through traditional channels?  Which customers are your most and least profitable?  Based on historical data, who is most likely to buy from you again next year--and who will not?  Better yet, historical analysis can (and should) be used to inform your testing strategy. So next time, before you dive into answering those pressing questions… determine what will be the best path to lead you to the answer.  Doing this each time, before you attack a problem, will give you focus, efficiency, and--ultimately--a lot more answers to your most critical questions.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/analyze-and-test-schuette.aspxFor AAA, database segmentation has held the key to improved acquisition, retention and win-back. In addition to Customer Value Analysis, Catalyst initiated predictive modeling for AAA of Western and Central New York that produced stunning results. By appling data-driven insights to every aspect of AAA's marketing, we were able to develop a communications strategy that yielded more profitable members at a lower cost-per-member. We're proud to have had our work featured in the June 15 issue of Direct Marketing News. http://www.dmnews.com/database-modeling-helps-aaa-western-new-york-increase-membership/article/205171/ /media/43025/dm news aaa article.pdf  http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/dm-news-aaa-database-story.aspxBack in 1945, George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” As marketers, we know that all customers are not created equal.  We should be able to generate higher ROI by properly segmenting customer data to identify high- and low-value customers. We should be able to predict which customers will be most likely to buy from us again, and whether their purchases will actually be profitable. So why don’t we? Could it be because… Too many marketers think they already know who their best customers are. These people are often surprised to find out differently…proper segmentation can be a humbling experience. Too many marketers overcomplicate the process.  The wide range of analytics tools and processes at our disposal, coupled with expectations to come up with new and better solutions, often drives the temptation to create complexity.  As a result, one of the biggest challenges—and opportunities—in doing segmentation is starting simple. It’s an old axiom that 20% of your customers will produce 80% of your sales. The trick is figuring out which 20% is the right 20%. But once you’ve gone through a Customer Value Analysis, you can precisely focus your marketing strategy based on what each data segment tells you. Each segment yields a secret: which customers are worth retaining, which customers to try to win back, which customers to cultivate, who’s actually costing you money.   It starts with segmentation Want to try the basics yourself? Determine your value segments based on whatever criteria drive your business: for example, sales, margin dollar or unit volume. Rank your customers from highest value to lowest value for the most recent 12-month period. The customers who produced 80% of total value are your High Value segment. The balance is Low Value.    Do the same thing for the previous 12-month period and you will have High and Low Value segments from last year and this year. You’ll probably have new customers who had zero value the first year but are now High or Low Value customers. Likewise, you’ll have lost High and Low Value customers from one year over another.  For each segment, ask yourself: what happened? Why? What can I do to move these customers forward? Your goal is to drive customers into higher value segments. Once you understand what each segment tells you, you’ll have the answers to shape marketing and sales strategies to prioritize marketing spend, drive growth, minimize attrition and churn, and improve ROI. Want some help? Ask us about doing a Customer Value Analysis to identify your most and least profitable customers. It’s fast, affordable and the ROI is significant.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/customer-value-analysis.aspxThree direct marketing and digital marketing professionals from Rochester-based Catalyst share their insight on the strategic use of direct mail in a new book by Lin Grensing-Pophal titled “Direct Mail in the Digital Age.” Mike Osborn, managing director; Karen Menachof, chief client officer; and Ken Fitzgerald, executive creative director at Catalyst were prominently quoted in the new book (Self-Counsel Press, 2011). In a chapter titled “The Future of Direct Mail,” Osborn and Fitzgerald are quoted as saying: “The future of direct marketing hinges on the ability to adapt and evolve with emerging channels…the customers are in control. A strong direct strategy will enhance all other marketing efforts because of segmentation, personalization, and having the ability to craft more relevant copy and offers to the customer.” Osborn goes on to add that the invaluable foundation of direct marketing is analytics. Strong analytics opens a world of possibilities, he says—for example, more effective contract strategies where conversations take place, not “lectures” or “brochure-ware.” Adds Fitzgerald, “The ability to collect information on a targeted group and mine for individual data allows for prosciutto-thin segmentation. In the future, we have to listen harder, not shout louder.” In a chapter titled “Beginnings and Benefits,” Menachof says direct mail has always been the one channel where truly relevant information could be used by marketers to engage customers and prospects. It’s the way to provide things that matter to them, she says, and create true value. “Data-driven insights have long been the key driver to success in this channel,” Menachof says. What’s really changed now that the digital marketplace has become so prevalent? Menachof says the ability to further customize direct communications based on what marketers know about customers’ cross-channel interactions is making direct mail more relevant than ever. “As we get better at understanding the preferences of those we are marketing to…we may mail less but with exceptionally more impact,” Menachof says. “Mail is not dead, but its success is increasingly dependent on the effective integration of all channels so that the individual’s needs are understood and addressed in the most relevant, impactful manner possible.” “Direct Mail in the Digital Age” by Lin Grensing-Pophal is available from Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Mail-Digital-Age-Grensing-Pophal/dp/1770400710http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/direct-mail-in-the-digital-age-book.aspxCatalyst, a Rochester, New York-based direct and digital marketing agency, is proud to announce that David Schuette, the agency’s senior Web marketing analyst, was named to Direct Marketing News’  2011 Thirty Under 30 List. The list recognizes the industry's most promising young performers. According to Direct Marketing News, “The annual Direct Marketing News' Thirty Under 30 feature honors the brightest and most ambitious young talent in the direct marketing field. Nominated by their managers and peers and selected by our editors from among nearly 70 entries, these young superstars have achieved impressive professional milestones by their 30th birthdays. They lead top accounts at major agencies, and spur the creation of new ideas and use of technology.” Schuette, a former Web analyst for Land’s End, is a member of the Web Analytics Association, is Google Analytics Qualified, and writes his own analytics blog, The Cake Scraps. He also works as a volunteer mentor for The Analysis Exchange, where he provides valuable Web analytics expertise to directly benefit nonprofit organizations around the globe. “David is that rare breed of analytics professional who is able to translate analytical data into meaningful, actionable customer insights,” said his boss, Steve Khederian, Catalyst’s director of analytics. “He personifies that hard-to-find ‘hybrid’…a person who is savvy in digital technology, yet who truly understands underlying marketing goals and strategies and knows how to apply technology to drive business results. “That combination enables David to think differently from others who do analytics but are bound by the channels in which they execute,” Khederian said. “His cross-channel agnosticism allows him to elevate his thinking beyond just being a tactician and generate multichannel optimization.” “We’re very proud of David,” said Mike Osborn, managing director of Catalyst. “And we’re grateful to Direct Marketing News for the opportunity to nurture and honor outstanding young talent. Being named to the Thirty Under 30 List is no small accomplishment. We’re delighted to see David’s contributions to the industry acknowledged.”http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/30-under-30.aspxGoogle AdWords is a great way to get your website noticed, but the challenge is doing it at a price and ROI that works for you. A well-planned campaign needs clearly defined, measurable goals and objectives right from the start. But what do you do when you can’t measure the impact of your campaign directly? How do you measure the unmeasurable? The secret is your keyword strategy. Let’s say the objective of your paid search program is to increase foot traffic in your physical stores, thus ultimately increasing revenue. How do you make a direct connection between your AdWords clicks and your physical store transaction?    Here’s how we did it.  We started by running some modest geo-targeted campaigns to get a better idea of the search market. With the help of Google Analytics, we tracked all of the standard measurables such as average time on site, pages per visit, bounce rate, percent of new visits, etc. We also tracked all possible elements of the site to try to understand the intent of our users. We focused primarily on coupon clicks, requests for driving directions and "contact us" form submissions. From this information, we developed a baseline cost per action (CPA) that was agreeable to everyone. The power of negative keywords Almost immediately we uncovered some general broad-matched keywords driving huge amounts of traffic. More important—we noticed that most of this traffic came from users who didn’t stay on the site or give any indication that they’d be inclined to actually visit a store. After trying different keyword matching options without success, we deleted those keywords and added them as negative keywords to ensure they didn’t show up for any other broad or phrase matched keywords. As the campaign ran and gained some history, our client began to see increases in both foot traffic in their physical stores and revenue. We worked with them to develop an acceptable CPA based on actions (e.g., coupon clicks, requests for driving directions) that indicated user intent to visit a physical store. We were then able to reduce the CPA while increasing click through rate, quality score and impression share. How? Many ad copy tests, keyword bid adjustments and by building targeted ad groups. The biggest payoff: We were able to identify more keywords that drove high volume among users who showed little intent to visit a store. By trying different matching options or eliminating these keywords altogether, we have been able to run a highly efficient, highly successful campaign that directly linked search to revenue. Sometimes it’s the clicks you don’t buy that make all the difference.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/laney-keyword-search-strategy.aspxCatalyst, a direct and digital marketing agency in Rochester, New York, has been named to BtoB Magazine’s prestigious 2011 Top Agency list. This marks the fourth consecutive year Catalyst has won the distinction. “A significant percent of our agency business is business-to-business,” said Jeff Cleary, Catalyst’s managing director and author of the white paper: It’s the Relationship, Stupid: Bridging the Gap Between Lead Generation and Marketing Automation. “We’ve had a great deal of success developing lead generation, nurturing and scoring programs for Fortune 1000 companies, as well as CRM initiatives,” he said. “Having our work recognized by BtoB Magazine—the number one business-to-business marketing strategy magazine—is something we’re really proud of.” Catalyst’s business-to-business clients include Eastman Kodak Company, Océ, Heraeus Kulzer, Valvoline, Assurant Health, and ITT, among others. The agency recently won MarketingSherpa’s 2011 Best of Show: B2B award for an integrated multi-channel program that launched a new scanner series for Kodak. The program resulted in a 23 percent lead rate. For a complimentary copy of It’s the Relationship Stupid: Bridging the Gap Between Lead Generation and Marketing Automation, email Mark D'Amico or call 585.453.8300.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/btob-magazine-top-agency-2011.aspxIf you haven’t already, check out David Segal’s New York Times article titled: “The Dirty Little Secrets of Search.” It’s a great piece of investigative journalism (with help from technology company Blue Fountain Media) that questioned J.C. Penney’s impressive organic search ranking on keywords that may be appropriate but aren’t necessary intuitive for the retailer–dresses, bedding, area rugs. Segal uncovered a Black Hat search campaign that, he concluded, paid thousands of sites to link to the former-cataloger’s Web site. (Penney has since fired its search agency.) While Black Hat campaigns violate Google’s terms of use, this story reinforces the importance of quality links to and from your site. You can’t buy them from old "all but abandoned" sites, but you can find and encourage cross linking from quality topic-appropriate sites to improve your natural search ranking. So, after you read Segal’s warning about how NOT to promote your site through linking, put on your White Hat and go find a few sites that will help you! Like situps, cleaning your house and weeding the garden, get in the habit of doing it on a regular basis. Post new content regularly, monitor your keywords and guess what? You have an SEO effort.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/a-cautionary-tale,-with-a-silver-lining.aspx Catalyst, a Rochester, New York-based direct and digital marketing agency, has been awarded Best of Show: B2B by MarketingSherpa for its innovative Kodak i4000 launch campaign. The 2011 Email Award was announced by MarketingSherpa at its annual email summit in Las Vegas. In addition to the Best of Show award, Catalyst also took home a Gold award in the Best Integration with Other Channels category. Lead Judge and MarketingSherpa Senior Reporter Adam T. Sutton said, “Kodak's campaign showed how email can play a central role in a marketing plan. Simply put: this was a great strategy. The team's expertise, planning and hard work brought out the best of what email marketing has to offer and combined it with other marketing channels to achieve a huge lead-generation rate.” The campaign included an email message with personalized URLs, follow-up emails to non-responders, direct mail, a microsite, triggered emails, mobile integration, social media integration, a reseller “campaign in a box,” and a streamlined, database-driven process to push leads along the sales pipeline, plus lead scoring. The campaign generated a 23% lead rate with a clickthrough rate of 3.7% vs. industry benchmark of 2.5%. Site engagement was also extremely high: 1 in 3 email respondents who visited the site filled out a form; average page views was 5.7 out of 6; and average time on site was more than three minutes with a <1% bounce rate. Recognized for their contributions to the campaign were: Frank Magnera, Account Team Leader; Damir Saracevic, Director, Digital Marketing; Chris Zirbel, Senior Account Manager; Justin Morelli, Digital Analyst-UX; Kathy Levine, Copywriter; Tony Lang, Marketing Analyst; David Laney, Search Analyst; and Rui Da Costa, Digital Specialist. The Project Manager was Lauren Taylor. The full MarketingSherpa Email Awards 2011 Special Report can be accessed here: Email Awards Special Report.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/marketingsherpa-best-of-show.aspxIn B2B marketing, it's an axiom that 20% of your customers will produce 80% of your business. But how many people actually identify who that 20% is?  If you're interested in learning how to determine who your most valuable customers are, read what Director of Analytics Steve Khederian has to say in the March 9 issue of Direct Marketing News. Or give Mark D'Amico a call at 585.453.8338 to learn how the 80/20 rule applies to your business. http://www.dmnews.com/segment-a-b-to-b-base-into-high-and-low-value/article/198007/http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/segmentation-dm-news.aspxThat’s a question consumers will soon face.  And it’s a challenge marketers also have to face,  whether they like it or not.  The growing concern over online privacy is going to result in “do not track” functionality one way or the other.  The FTC says we need it, and Congress is holding hearings about it.  Whether it‘s implemented at the browser level or through a Do Not Call registry—it’s coming.  At first blush, you have to wonder why any consumer would choose not to opt-out of online tracking. After all, in the offline world you wouldn’t volunteer to have someone follow you around the aisles of your local Walmart® taking notes about which products you were looking at, or following you around town to see what kind of restaurants you liked to eat at. You’d opt out of that in a heartbeat.  So why would consumers choose not to opt out of tracking online?  In a word, relevancy. If you ask a consumer whether he wants a company recording his every move on the Internet, chances are you’d get a flat out “NO!” But if you ask a New York Yankees fan whether he wants to see ads about ballet or baseball, chances are he’s going to say “baseball!”  So what’s the difference? In the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo, we marketers have got some ‘splainin’ to do. Consumers need to understand the whole picture, and we just haven’t been very clear. Education, transparency and value. If we want to avoid a mad consumer dash to opt out of online tracking, we must educate consumers about the value of collecting their data. If consumers know the information they volunteer gets them something valuable back--whether it’s coupons for their favorite services or news about cool new products they’re actually interested in—they’re going to be a lot more likely to offer up that information. In particular, we need to be explicit about how it’s going to be used—privacy is important.  Bottom line: Consumers will get to choose whether or not they want to be tracked or not.  As marketers, we can either complain about the door hitting us on the way out…or show consumers the benefit of keeping that door open.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/to-track-or-not-to-track-beca.aspxCatalyst, a direct and digital marketing agency based in Rochester, New York, has been retained by The Oreck Corporation as its direct and database marketing agency of record. The agency will also develop SEM/SEO strategy for Oreck’s corporate retail stores. Founded in the U.S. in 1963 as a manufacturer of powerful yet lightweight upright vacuum cleaners for the hotel industry, Oreck is today a well-established developer, manufacturer and distributor of residential and commercial cleaning equipment, selling products throughout North America and the United Kingdom. The company’s product line includes upright and canister vacuums, steam cleaners and air purifiers, cleaning products and other floor cleaning machines designed to improve people's quality of life. Oreck markets directly to consumers and through more than 400 Oreck Clean Home Center retail locations, 85 of which are corporate-owned.  “Our expectation is that Catalyst will establish a holistic view of customers across all our channels,” said Anthony Conversa, vice president of direct sales and marketing at Oreck. “We engaged them to build relationships with current customers in a CRM learning environment that leverages behaviors across channels and helps us better understand customers at the individual and segment levels.” Frank Magnera, who will direct the account for Catalyst, said the agency’s goals were to improve retention, increase customer value and optimize Oreck’s marketing spend. “You have to look at the customer’s total relationship across all channels, know the value individual customers bring, and treat each of them accordingly,” he said. “The goal is to match your spend with your customer’s lifetime value so you deliver the right offers to the right customers at the right time.”http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/oreck-taps-catalyst.aspxKevin Seaman, Catalyst's Director of Analytics, will be a featured speaker at Publishing Xchange, March 22-24, 2011, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington DC. Seaman will be a panelist in a session titled "Cross-Media Services: Making Data Work" along with Barb Pellow, Group Director, InfoTrends, and Scott Dubois, VP, Cross-Media Services & Marketing, Reynolds DeWalt. He will address the importance of using analytics to make data driven decisions and the role that printers and publishers can play in increasing their clients' response rates, delivering significantly improved business results, and driving marketing programs to increased accountability. The session takes place Wednesday, March 23, at 10:15 a.m. The conference, which is co-located with the On Demand Expo and with Info360, is organized by InfoTrends. It features four tracks dedicated to publishing, marketing, print, and tools and technology. Attendees include professionals involved in publishing magazines, books, and self-published content as well as marketing professionals in agencies, designers, in-plant, and printers. The event marks the first time digital publishing, digital print and enterprise information management will be brought together in one exposition.  Anticipated attendance is more than 20,000. For more information and to register, visit www.publishingxchange.com        http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/kevin-seaman-to-speak-at-publishing-xchange.aspxPowerUp Profit: Seize the Data Thursday, February 17 2:00pm ET The printer’s role in the world of data is growing more fundamental than just doing a bit of cleansing. Marketing lists, the segmentation, interpretation, profiling and analysis of data--these are things printers need to understand. Register for this free webinar to learn: What the data aspects of a direct marketing campaign actually are The internal skills necessary for data analysis Options if you don’t have in-house assets, including partnering with another company How to increase your ability to respond to data in a quick and timely manner How your peers in the printing industry are succeeding by using data Featuring: Kevin Seaman, Director of Analytics, Catalyst Moderator: Barb Pellow, Group Director, InfoTrends Duration: One hour Cost: Free to register/attend! Presented by: Printing Impressions & In-Plant Graphics Sponsored by: Konica Minolta Register herehttp://www.catalystinc.com/releases/seaman-konica-minolta.aspx Karen Menachof, chief client officer, talks about how Catalyst wins their clients' trust and business by focusing on insight generation.   http://www.dmnews.com/customers-add-to-agencies-duties/article/194740/ http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/karen-menachof-profile-dmnews.aspxIn today's Direct Marketing News, Ken Fitzgerald, Catalyst's executive creative director, talks about how to integrate across channels and the impact of digital on CRM strategies. http://www.dmnews.com/qa-ken-fitzgerald-executive-creative-director-at-catalyst/article/194848/ View PDF http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/ken-fitzgerald-dm-news.aspxKaren Menachof, Catalyst’s chief client officer, has been selected  to facilitate a conference session on cross-channel insights at Frost & Sullivan’s prestigious 12th Annual MARKETING WORLD Executive MindXchange, February 8-10, 2011, New Orleans, Louisiana.   On Wednesday, February 9 Menachof will lead a session titled “Leverage Insights across Channels to Get More Juice for the Squeeze.” The session will explore the importance of generating cross-channel insights for enhanced brand experience. “Many marketers are good at using data to optimize performance within channels,” Menachof said, “but only a few use that data to generate insights that inform the customer experience across channels.  We’re going to do a deep-dive into best practices to generate cross-channel insights, look at some successful programs, and explore innovative ways to structure organizations to eliminate siloed thinking.” Menachof will also moderate a Top Takeaways panel on Thursday, February 10. Frost & Sullivan’s MARKETING WORLD Executive MindXchange is an annual conference and networking event that attracts about 200 Fortune 1000 senior marketing executives. The event includes 19 interactive sessions on sales and marketing leadership and strategy, tactical execution of marketing strategy, savvy social marketing, and best practices from the nation’s top marketing innovators. Catalyst is a featured solution provider. To learn more about MARKETING WORLD or to register, visit Marketing World or call 1.877.GOFROST.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/fs-announcement.aspxAll of us prefer it when things go well, and when they do, we pay attention to why so we can recreate that success later. In the world of paid search marketing, that often boils down to attribution. Here’s an example of how this works. Let's say you are at a bar and you see an attractive person—for illustrative purposes only, let’s assume it’s a woman. You go out on a limb and ask the bartender to send over a $10 house brand cocktail (like a generic search term).  She accepts the drink, you wave, she nods briefly, and that’s as far as it goes.    You’re feeling brave today, so a while later you decide to try again and send over a second drink.  This time you choose your favorite $3 beer (your branded search term). You are rewarded: this time, the woman smiles, walks over your way and says: "I don’t usually drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis." (I’ve been watching too many Dos Equis commercials.) The two of you begin talking, hit it off, and decide to go to dinner together. Success! Now, let’s take a closer look at why you succeeded…in PPC terms. The Dos Equis sealed the deal because it was her favorite and exactly what she was looking for. But, she first noticed you when you splurged on the $10 cocktail.  Chances are part of your success needs to be attributed to both beverages--but how much to each? Depending on whom you ask, you will probably get very different answers. Your buddy sitting next to you might tell you it was 95% Dos Equis, and 5% cocktail. The bartender, however, may tell a very different story.  He's probably going to say the $10 cocktail did most of the legwork, but the Dos Equis is what sealed the deal. We completely understand the bartender’s logic. It’s in his best interest to keep selling those $10 cocktails. And it’s in Google’s best interest to keep selling generic, non-branded keywords. But it may not be in yours. In the world of paid search marketing, the woman at the bar would be your target audience, the drinks are your search ads, and the bartender is Google. (Or Yahoo if you're at a dive). Google recently released a new Adwords analysis that gives marketers insight into pre-conversion click funnels. The report is fascinating and could be valuable when analyzing paid search campaigns--but it needs to be analyzed with a grain of salt. It’s important to realize why Google is going to great lengths to give us access to this complex data.  Generic, non-branded keywords are often much more expensive and convert at far lower rates. It's more profitable for Google when you continue to bid on those keywords.  Google is also aggressively entering the banner ad market, which historically has been costly and yields extremely low return.  However, if some level of success can be attributed to generic keywords and banner ads, such as driving awareness that leads to branded searches, it becomes easier for marketers to rationalize a continued spend on those ads. Attribution is a valuable concept when analyzing marketing channels and campaign.  But it's an imperfect science, and marketers need to be cautious when using this data to adjust budgets. So until digital attribution becomes a more exact science, stay thirsty my friends, but drink responsibly.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/the-most-interesting-search-in-the-world.aspxAlthough Google clearly deserves credit for helping people find product information and pushing them through the sales funnel, what the report doesn’t consider is this:  In order for consumers to find something on Google, they first need to be inspired to search for it. That inspiration can come from many other channels—social, traditional, direct, display, word of mouth. The Snuggie® is a good example.  The keyword “Snuggie” receives a huge number of searches (over 165,000 a month according to Google’s keyword tool). Google definitely helps people find out where to buy this product … but two years ago, no one searched for the term “Snuggie.” Google didn’t start the Snuggie craze. It was the Snuggie direct response television campaign that inspired the initial interest and drove people to Google to learn more. This effect is not just limited to new products. We’ve seen similar trends with many digital marketing campaigns.  For example, we typically launch branded keyword campaigns on search engines prior to other efforts. Consistently, there’s a spike in search volume for those terms when we start running display ads. So whether you’re promoting the next blanket with sleeves or you’re marketing a product that’s been around for years, pay close attention to search--but make sure you consider other efforts to ensure consumers are inspired to find you.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/google-taking-too-much-credit-snuggie.aspxCatalyst, a Rochester, New York-based direct and digital marketing agency, has hired Ken Fitzgerald as the agency’s new executive creative director. Fitzgerald was a senior vice president and executive creative director at Digitas for ten years. While in the Chicago office, he won major accounts including Nokia, Whirlpool, Jenn-Air, Maytag, and Amana. He also developed all direct marketing efforts for AT&T for nine years. Prior to Digitas, Fitzgerald was a senior vice president and creative director for Kovel Kresser & Partners, Los Angeles, where he won the direct marketing business for Kaiser Permanente, Bally’s Fitness, Nintendo, and Countrywide Mortgages. He has also held senior creative positions at Bowes, Dentsu & Partners and Dentsu Young & Rubicam. Most recently, Fitzgerald was an executive vice president and executive creative director at FKM Agency in Houston. His portfolio includes four CLIO Awards and two Caples Awards, among many others. He has also served as a CLIO Awards judge for TV, radio and print for nine years and judged the Caples Awards for two years.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/ken-fitzgerald.aspxPrivacy is, and always has been, something that needs to be taken very seriously.  People will only return to or do business with sites they trust.  This means that while a website can track everything, it does not mean that it should. In fact, several large media sites have recently been sued over the use of “flash cookies,” which can be used to identify returning site visitors even after the user has deleted their standard cookies.  From a measurement perspective resetting cookies is excellent, as it creates a full view of the customer and their activity with your site.  The allure of that level of information is obvious (lifecycle marketing, retargeting, etc.), but the user cleared their cookies for a reason and resetting it via a non-standard method can easily break trust.  If you are thinking of trying out the use of “flash cookies” to reset browser cookies, you are in a very gray area and run a real risk of breaking the trust of your users--not to mention possible legal action. In fact, because the speed of change in the web analytics industry, you should review your privacy policy to make sure that it is up to date and that the appropriate information is available to your users.  To take it a step further, keep an eye out for the recently published Web Analytics Association Code of Ethics; it provides a starting point for discussion around best practices within the web analytics industry. Use these best practices to preserve the trust of your users.  Always keep privacy top of mind – even when it means reduced tracking capabilities.  If data collection and privacy are not handled properly they can become a lightning rod for criticism and an unnecessary distraction from the real value that web analytics can provide.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/flash-cookies-schuette-(1).aspxValvoline Instant Oil Change (VIOC), a leader in the U.S. quick lube market, has launched a multifaceted opt-in mobile marketing program that includes SMS, mobile coupons,  email, store landing pages, website promotion, and SEM. The program also includes mobile-optimized landing pages, store locators and email for easier viewing on mobile devices.  The agency that developed the program is long-time partner Catalyst, a direct and digital agency based in Rochester, NY. “Many companies want to explore mobile marketing but they’re concerned about making a large strategic investment before they know if it will work,” said Meghan St. Onge, senior program manager, who develops and manages digital and direct marketing programs for the 858 Valvoline Instant Oil Change service centers. “We designed a relatively simple and inexpensive test to determine whether mobile offers would be welcomed by VIOC customers. “The test did show conclusively that a significant percentage of VIOC customers would opt in for mobile offers, including SMS and mobile coupons,” St. Onge said. Catalyst Chief Digital Officer Peter Platt said that many companies were intrigued by the bells and whistles of mobile apps, “but sometimes forget to make sure these fit into the overall marketing strategy.” “You can develop the coolest app around, but then you have to fight to get it noticed,” he said. “To date, only 21% of cell phone customers use Smartphones, and only 8% of those use iPhones. There are thousands of apps in the market. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the excitement of an app and lose sight of the bigger marketing goal: does it make it easier for customers to communicate with me? Does it improve the brand experience? Usually, simple is best.” Mobile-optimized touchpoints Platt said that more and more companies are developing mobile-friendly sites, “but they often forget about email and landing pages. Many Smartphone users now read email on their phones. If it’s not easy for them to do so, you can lose the sale.” St. Onge said that VIOC developed several mobile customer touchpoints, including mobile-optimized landing pages, email and store locators.  “It’s simply another way we make it easy for customers to interact with the brand,” she said. “We let the customer decide how they want to be contacted and make it easy for them to do so.  It’s a huge competitive differentiator.”  http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/vioc-mobile-campaign.aspxCatalyst was named to the prestigious 29th Annual Inc. 500/5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. With a solid three-year growth of 24%, the company ranked #368 in the advertising and marketing industry. “It’s quite an honor to make this list,” said Mike Osborn, founding partner and managing director of Catalyst. “There are over 27 million businesses registered in the USA. We’re in some pretty good company here.” This is the second time Catalyst has been named to the list. Previous companies that have received this honor include Microsoft, Timberland, Visa, Intuit, Oracle, and Zappos.com, among others.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/inc500.aspxWhy This is Relevant: It demonstrates how to launch a new product in a multichannel B2B environment. Challenge: Kodak wanted to launch its groundbreaking i4000 Series Scanner to a B2B audience of document/content management, IT and purchasing professionals in paper-intensive industries. Their goals: Create a disruption in the marketplace Generate excitement and awareness pre-launch Present the value proposition and engage prospects Competitively differentiate the product Present compelling offers to drive response Identify near-term sales opportunities and distribute to the channel immediately Nurture prospects without immediate needs through the sales cycle           Insight: Buyers want to improve efficiency and save money ... but what emotionally drives their buying decision is the need to be a "hero" and look good to their boss. Solution: Integrated multichannel program focusing on business benefits and plug-and-play ease of use … branded as innovative and “smart” -- the shape of things to come: Teaser pre-launch and launch emails with PURLs Full color mail Content-rich microsite with third party industry news, educational material, product offers, video, and a free, downloadable independent report from Forrester Research, Inc. Mobile -friendly microsite and opt-in for mobile updates Share links to social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter Online banners Reseller “campaign in a box” with email and mail templates and website bug Customer-centric lead nurturing program: Monthly e-based and mail-based communications to prospects not currently in the market; drive back to microsite. Unique versions based on type and level of engagement Continuous fresh, relevant microsite content, including third-party research … every visit is new. Goal: become a wise counselor and establish credibility Streamlined, database-driven process to push leads along sales pipeline Lead scoring Results: 23% lead rate Extremely high site engagement: 1 in 2 mail direct mail respondents who visited the site filled out a form 1 in 3 email respondents who visited the site filled out a form Average page views 5.7 out of 6 Average time on site over 3 minutes Under 1% bounce rate http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/kodak-i4000-case-study.aspxTake the mobile marketing challenge: Do you have a mobile-friendly site? How about mobile-friendly landing pages and email? Is it easy for mobile customers to interact with you? Are you losing sales because frustrated mobile customers just “give up?” Many are saying 2010 is (finally) the “Year of Mobile.” More and more, your target audience is interacting with your brand on-the-go.  According to a recent Gartner report, by 2012 Smartphone sales will surpass laptop sales and comprise 37% of all global handset sales (up from 14% in 2009). That puts enormous pressure on marketers to think about the way customers interact with you on their phones.  Unfortunately, too many marketers focus their mobile strategy on apps and SMS. What gets lost in the shuffle are the other online touch points – particularly email and landing pages. A recent report from the Radicati Group projected that, by 2013, more than one billion consumers will access e-mail on their mobile phones.  That has huge implications for your email marketing strategy. Let me give you an example of a less-than-satisfying mobile experience I recently had while stuck in the airport. I had just enough time to catch up on some email, not enough to pull out the laptop. So I pulled out my iPhone®.  I was what you would call a “captive audience. “ I had several emails from retailers that interested me. But only a few provided a mobile version. Most forced me to scroll more than I--even with time on my hands--had the patience for, resulting in a subpar experience. My friends at the office tell me it’s even worse on a BlackBerry®. When I clicked the link to “learn more,” I was taken to the retailer’s main web site--which was not optimized for mobile, and which didn’t have a mobile viewing option, forcing me to scroll down through all the page names, image names and code until I lost all hope of finding the products I was looking for. Thus I abandoned my search. And the retailer lost a sale. Perhaps more important…I had a negative brand experience, bad enough to keep me off that retailer’s site indefinitely. Some retailers have, indeed, been prescient enough to develop mobile sites–but they often forget about optimizing the rest of their customer communications for mobile. We recently developed an integrated communications program for a new product launch that included mobile versions of emails, landing pages, a mobile-optimized microsite, and the option to receive product updates via text message/SMS. Anyone who opted in for SMS was automatically directed to the mobile-optimized sites. With so many customers using their phones for email and to surf the web, you simply can’t afford to overlook developing an integrated mobile strategy. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, and experience your brand from a variety of mobile devices and communications channels. How does your experience measure up?http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/mobile-marketing-strategy-damir.aspxCatalyst, a Rochester, NY-based direct and digital marketing agency, has hired web marketing analyst David Schuette. He joins Catalyst from Land’s End, based in Dodgeville, WI. Catalyst has also hired Warren Mapes as a senior art director/mixed media. Mapes, an award-winning interactive and online specialist, has designed numerous web sites, digital marketing programs and print communications for Xerox, MasterCard, Paychex, and Kodak, among others.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/david-shuette.aspxCatalyst was selected from five competing Rochester agencies to develop a robust new web site for Hillside Family of Agencies.  The site, which launched April 12, allows Hillside Family of Agencies to better connect with the community, which includes parents, youth, donors, and strategic partners. In addition to updated graphics, the new site significantly improves the user experience through customizable search options, informative podcasts, rich content, and interactive elements. According to Jennifer Bacci, director of marketing for Hillside Family of Agencies, agencies considered for the project were required to meet 18 distinct criteria. "The top two were the ability to measure results and the ability to provide in-depth tracking. When we applied those criteria, and considered extensive web experience, Catalyst clearly came out on top," she said. The Hillside.com site utilizes the industry-leading platform developed by Ektron, Inc., a Catalyst partner and the recipient of numerous industry accolades including the 2009 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management, the 2009 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Social Software and EContent Magazine's Top 100 Companies that Matter Most. Ektron's content management system allows Hillside Family of Agencies to easily update and add content without further help or incurring costs from an outside vendor. The site is supported with a multi-channel, integrated marketing campaign that includes radio, print, and display advertising.  Visitors to the site are encouraged to register with an offer for a free CD containing interviews from popular Hillside Family Forum radio broadcasts. Bacci recommends partnering with an outside agency before embarking on a project of this scope.  "When you don't have the internal resources, hire an expert who does this every day," she said. She said they have had a wonderful partnership with Catalyst. "I continue to be impressed by their ability to connect with all of our internal clients and navigate through different areas such as IT and marketing," Bacci said. "They are open-minded - they take our ideas and put great solutions behind them."http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/hillside-release.aspxFor the third time Catalyst has been named one of BtoB Magazine's top agencies, acknowledging the agency's prowess in B2B cross-channel marketing and analytics.  Catalyst is the only agency in Rochester named to the prestigious list and shares the accolade with some of the largest B2B shops across the nation.  Factors in determining BtoB Magazine's top agency list include percentage revenue of B2B business, client relationships, creativity, cross-channel programs, and their resulting success metrics. To qualify for the award, Catalyst submitted winning campaigns for Carestream Health and Eastman Kodak Company. "These campaigns epitomized the way we go about things at Catalyst," said Jeff Cleary, managing director.  "We understand specific audiences, how they gather information and make purchase decisions.  We know how to target them online and offline, wherever they want to start a conversation.  We continuously test, revise, react, and improve to optimize business outcomes across all channels. "This holistic thinking is part of the Catalyst DNA," he said.  "It's what delivers game-changing results." Carestream Health, a global provider of dental and medical imaging systems and healthcare IT solutions, engaged Catalyst to streamline brand awareness, develop a consistent identity, identify and establish relationships with key decision makers, and engage and educate prospects for further dialogue.  Catalyst developed a multi-touch integrated lead generation campaign that included email with personalized landing pages, direct mail and telemarketing to reach key decision makers in community hospitals. The campaign exceeded the client's expectations-generating an overall response rate that was significantly higher than industry standard, while promoting recall and receptivity to a next-level sales conversation. Kodak, a Catalyst client for 20 years, asked Catalyst to develop a prospect nurturing campaign to grow market share for its D2L workflow solution, an automated controlled process that powers workflow, collaboration, and color across the global enterprise.  Catalyst developed a multitouch integrated campaign designed to position Kodak as a leading resource for marketing automation.  The campaign built a community of Fortune 1000 prospects and current customers utilizing outreach direct mail, nonresponder email, and a personalized URL.  A content-rich microsite offered Webinars, case studies, white papers, demos, brochures, blogs, a message board, and third-party contributions to educate and foster open communications. In addition to Eastman Kodak Company and Carestream Health, Catalyst's business-to-business clients include Valvoline Instant Oil Change, ITT Corp., and Standard Register.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/catalyst-named-a-2010-top-agency-by-btob-magazine.aspxChallenge Bausch & Lomb’s PreserVision vitamins have been clinically proven to slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). But AMD sufferers only knew about them through their doctors. Bausch & Lomb attempted to educate AMD sufferers with a small quarterly newsletter. Problem was, there wasn’t much relevant content and not many of them read it. The small amount of information they did receive usually came from their eye care practitioner … whom they didn’t visit very often. Insight AMD sufferers not only wanted more information about their disease -- new research, new treatments -- they wanted to share their experiences about what it was like living with AMD.  Solution Develop more relevant communications that allow AMD sufferers to interact with each other. Encourage AMD sufferers to visit their physician, join the Joy of Sight program (a community created by Bausch & Lomb for AMD sufferers) and use coupons to drive product purchase Enhance the quarterly newsletters to include relevant content: healthy living tips, product suggestions, coupons, and more Institute a yearly survey to give AMD sufferers a chance to share their experiences with others—in return they receive a calendar, coupons and a referral vehicle Develop welcome kits for new Joy of Sight members, package inserts and literature to be handed out by physicians to patients Results Bausch & Lomb realized the importance of communicating directly with consumers vs. relying exclusively on channel partners or general advertising. The program was rolled out internationally. Acquisition campaign doubled the number of at-risk sufferers in Bausch & Lomb’s database 33% of database responded to survey 90% of new members redeemed product coupons http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/discover-how-bausch--lomb-increased-compliance-and-sales-for-preservision.aspx Catalyst (formerly Catalyst Direct) today announced three new hires to meet increased demand for the agency's services, particularly in digital marketing. Mark D'Amico,  a 20-year veteran in direct marketing, database marketing, interactive marketing, and loyalty marketing was hired as a new account director. D'Amico's account experience includes Xerox, New York Life, Comcast, Time Warner, Pfizer, and Hallmark, among others. He holds a bachelor's degree in organizational management from Roberts Wesleyan College. Jordan Bate  joins Catalyst as a data analyst on the analytics team. Bate is a former project analyst at the University of Rochester, where he developed website benchmarking initiatives. He holds an MBA in brand management and marketing as well as an MS in marketing from the Simon School at the University of Rochester. MaryAnn Collins  is a new project manager responsible for implementing strategic plans and managing workflow. Collins, most recently with IBM, brings more than 20 years of experience in direct and digital marketing, telemarketing and sales to Catalyst. She is currently completing certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds a bachelor's degree from Adrian College. Catalyst is currently recruiting for several more positions, including an account planner, an executive creative director and a senior digital account executive. The agency said it is also looking to add another project manager and quality assurance analyst. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/new-hires-710.aspx There are a lot of good reasons to participate in social media conversations. It's a great way to keep tabs on what customers and prospects think of your brand. It gives your audience a two-way communications channel -- another way to talk to you, and another way for you to listen to them -- all in real-time. However, I'd like to take the opportunity to caution that Twitter, Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn, etc. should be used as a complement to market research, not as a replacement for it. Although these communities certainly can be influential -- and they must be engaged -- they should not be used as a stand-alone source for market research data. No question that social media can augment or even enhance traditional qualitative research -- much like focus groups can. When funds are tight, social media can even replace focus groups as a qualitative tool.  It keeps dialogue open both ways, and can help to develop survey questions for future research.  But as the most effective market research practice, social media can neither compete with nor replace the sound methodology of a well-designed quantitative survey. Why? Consider data quality, data reliability and the fact that a survey can give you a representative sample with statistical weighting.  Social media cannot yet provide any of these. Analyzing tweets, for example, as positive/negative/neutral can provide valuable directional or anecdotal information -- but like focus groups, this type of analysis shouldn't be used in isolation as the basis for making critical decisions. Certainly there will be continued advancement in social media tools in the future, and they are likely to align even more effectively with market research. We're already starting to see some of these tools being developed. But, for now, view social media as a welcome addition to your arsenal of marketing tools -- but not as a replacement for core market research. http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/social-media-vs-market-research-(1).aspx Catalyst's work with the Kodak i4000 Scanner Series was featured in two major industry publications today. DMNews interviewed Frank Magnera, Catalyst account director, and Kodak client Mark Neff, director of marketing for document imaging for the US and Canada, for an article in their online edition. In addition, BtoB Magazine announced our selection by Kodak to launch the product with supporting marketing programs, including on- and offline, as well as lead nurturing. Read the articles at: DMNews BtoB http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/catalyst-featured-in-btob-and-dmnews.aspx Eastman Kodak Company chose Catalyst, a Rochester, NY-based direct and digital marketing agency, to launch their acclaimed KODAK i4000 Series Scanners. According to Kodak, the groundbreaking scanner is faster and more durable than competitively-priced models and can potentially lower total cost of ownership by up to 59%. "This product is big news," said Catalyst account director Frank Magnera. "It promises to reshape the scanning industry in a big way. We needed a big idea, something that could cause a disruption in the marketplace. 'The Shape of Things to Come' spoke to the product's potential to redefine the scanning industry. "Because it was a major introduction, we wanted to get people talking about it, online and offline, before the product was launched," Magnera continued.  "We started with an email teaser campaign to create excitement and engagement. The email drove prospects to landing page where they could sign up to get relevant industry content, third-party educational materials, Webinars, and regular product offers. They could also share this content on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We then launched the product with an integrated direct, digital and mobile marketing campaign that linked to a content-rich microsite. The microsite offered video, flash, high-octane imagery, a contest, and a downloadable independent report from Forrester Research, Inc." He also said the product launch is also supported by an ongoing sales lead nurturing program. "We developed an ongoing series of communications to keep prospects who weren't ready to buy interested," he said. "We continually offer new information to further educate them, move them along the pipeline, and keep the Kodak brand top of mind." Magnera believes Catalyst's extensive knowledge of the digital imaging industry coupled with strategic expertise were key reasons for winning the business.  "We have a 20-year track record of successfully marketing imaging products," he said. "We're pleased Kodak has put their trust in us." http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/kodak-i4000-scanner.aspxHungry for a hamburger?  Based purely on market share, you're more likely to choose McDonald's than Wendy's.  However, most people don't make their lunch choices that way.  If you want a $1 double cheeseburger, you'll probably choose McDonalds.  But if you want chili with a Caesar salad, you're more likely to end up at Wendy's.  It all depends what you're looking for. Too often, we approach search engine marketing strategy as though market share is the only thing that matters. It's true that Google has a 70% market share, and if your customer wants to find a company's web site, odds are they'd use Google.  But let's say they want up-to-date flight information. They might choose Bing instead, because it's integrated with Farecast, which gives real-time access to flight schedules.  It all depends what they're looking for. When it comes to SEM strategy, Google and Bing are more like McDonald's and Wendy's than Coke and Pepsi.  When a customer chooses Wendy's, they're likely to use a different ordering strategy than at McDonalds, because they're visiting for different reasons. Similarly, assuming your Google strategy will work the same way in Bing is not the best approach.  What's more effective is to think about how and why your customers might use different search engines to find what you're marketing, and align your search strategies with those behaviors.  Individual search engines require individual search engine strategies. To optimize your SEM programs, spend as much time developing your strategies as you do deciding what to eat for lunch.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/tony-lang-seo-blog.aspx Catalyst has been honored by the Ad Council of Rochester with the 2010 W.B. Potter Founder's Award for its recent One City Connection Campaign. The campaign, a partnership between the City of Rochester and United Way of Greater Rochester, promotes volunteerism through print advertising, billboards, radio, and online banner advertising.  Prospective volunteers are encouraged to visit www.onecityconnection.org to learn more about different volunteer opportunities. "Most people understand the benefits of volunteering - they know it is good for the community and the right thing to do - but it's often difficult to get them to take that first step," said Karen Menachof, Catalyst's chief client officer, and a director-at-large for the Ad Council of Rochester. "So we focused on getting people to think about the unexpected benefits of volunteering, such as the joy they experience from the personal relationships they develop.  In each ad we not only feature a specific volunteer opportunity, we reinforce the idea that it is one of just many ways to make a difference in our community. This strategy makes it easy to add additional volunteer opportunities over time, and it gives the campaign a life beyond its original execution." Photography for the ads was donated by John Myers. Menachof said Catalyst had supported the work of the Ad Council and the United Way for over 20 years. "We have a long history of encouraging volunteerism among our employees," she said. "When they take on important causes, we back them up 100 percent. We consider it a right and a responsibility for successful organizations like ours not only to give back to our community, but to encourage our employees to do the same." http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/one-city-connection.aspx Catalyst Direct has rebranded their 20-year old agency and built a new marketing agency model seamlessly linking digital with direct, analytics with data and deep customer insight with actionable strategy. The agency has been rebranded as Catalyst (sans Direct) and is paired with the tagline, Science + Soul, reflecting their emphasis on the synergy achieved through analytical thinking coupled with insight. The agency has undergone a massive restructuring to embed digital strategy and data-driven analytics across the organization, enabling everyone in the organization to focus on optimizing strategy. The benefit to clients is: a more effective framework to generate better strategy; eliminating silos that inhibit idea generation; and improved outcomes. The creative department now reports to Peter Platt, recently hired Chief Digital Officer, resulting in digital strategy integrated in all services. The agency has restructured to free account leads from time-consuming process by adding client project managers tasked with centralized orchestration of activities. The account teams can now focus more exclusively on insight gathering and strategy development vs. managing process. Lastly, data analysts will now infuse customer knowledge, behavior and insight into communications strategies, campaign analysis, web analytics, and client forward-planning. The end result for clients is optimized results across all channels: the agency of the future. In addition to Peter Platt, a key new hire rounding out the new agency structure is Steve Khederian as Analytics Director, partnering and sharing the same title with veteran analytics guru Kevin Seaman. Khederian joins from Modern Marketing Concepts and is a 15-year veteran in the analytics space. Damir Saracevic was promoted to Director, Digital Marketing, from Director, Interactive Marketing. A robust new web site, www.catalystinc.com, has also been launched in support of the new brand.  "We had always been primarily a direct marketing agency," Mike Osborn, founding partner, said. "But a few years ago, we looked out and saw the future.  A big piece of it was going to be digital, no question. But it was bigger than that. The agency of the future would need to be more than a digital agency, or a direct agency or an interactive agency. They would need to be able to optimize across all channels, online and offline, wherever the customer engaged.  They'd need to be able to marry customer insight with analytics, to think in 3-D. And so we became that agency. Seemed the right time to drop the Direct, and the association with traditional direct marketing, from our brand." To cement their rebranding, Catalyst brought in the best minds in the business, including global strategic consultants The Winterberry Group (www.winterberrygroup.com) and Robert Fronk, a Catalyst board member and leading strategy advisor.  Catalyst also spoke with many of their clients, who embraced the idea of building an agency partner poised for their future growth. "I've worked with Catalyst for almost 15 years," said Ann Lindsey, Senior Marketing Leader at GE Money. "They consistently provide a level of strategic thinking that's really hard to come by. I particularly appreciate their commitment to growing our business.  It's not just that they have great ideas and new ways to talk to our customers… it's something about how their people think that makes them really different." Jeffrey Hayzlett, chief marketing officer for Eastman Kodak and author of The Mirror Test, concurred. "People are the difference in what makes a brand or business good to outstanding," he said. "The people at Catalyst know how to connect the dots. They have great analytic thinking and they constantly look for innovative ways to move our business forward."    Today's CMOs face a myriad of challenges, and Catalyst is well positioned to approach each opportunity as their ally. "The marketplace today is increasingly complex, and the CMO has to be able to justify performance across every channel," said Jeff Cleary, Catalyst's other founding partner. " Trying to put all the pieces together, being able to genuinely evaluate the impact of one channel strategy on the next and then adjust on the fly, that's not a job for the faint of heart.  You can hire five agencies with specialized expertise, and spend half your day just trying to manage them all-but at the end of the day, somebody has to put the big picture together. "Shouldn't your agency be able to do that?" he said. "That's really what our clients want. They want more than expertise in multiple channels, they want more than the ability to tell them where they are now. They want their agency to show them where to lead their brands tomorrow. They want to take the guesswork out of their marketing decisions. That's the agency of the future, and at Catalyst, they get it today." http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/catalyst-direct-rebrands-as-catalyst.aspx Mobile marketing is on the rise and Catalyst helped Valvoline Instant Oil Change get in on the ground floor. Catalyst helped launch a mobile coupon campaign to first determine whether its customers were receptive to engaging in mobile marketing, and to gauge interest. We included mobile calls to action on current interactive marketing initiatives, such as email, SEM, landing pages and on the vioc.com home page. Unique keywords and coupon codes were assigned to each initiative to track usage and redemption. Catalyst found that customers were receptive to mobile calls to action. A significant percent of customers exposed to mobile calls to action were willing to text to receive an offer. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/never-misplace-a-coupon-again-have-one-texted-to-your-phone.aspx Pet owners don't believe their money woes matter to their pets, and that's beneficial to the owner, according to a new study of 400 Americans fielded by independent digital direct agency, Catalyst Direct. Of respondents polled, a majority stated that their pet's emotional support and nonjudgmental attitude are key to helping them survive these challenging times. Other surveys have documented the many benefits of the relationship between the owner and their pet(s).  What makes Catalyst's study unique is, the company looked specifically at the benefits dogs and cats provide in helping owners deal with personal pressures brought on by a tough economy. Pet owners are experiencing all kinds of stress due to the uncertain economy: 73% are more worried about finances; 64% are more anxious; 59% are less confident, and 32% believe it has impacted their sense of identity. Conversely, pet owners credit their dogs and cats with helping them cope in a number of ways: 89% say their pets help them deal with the stresses of life; 83% value the steady presence their pets provide in an uncertain economy and 86% value their pets' appreciation, despite their own concerns about finances and job security. When asked about spending cuts, pet owners stated that they would be willing to compromise on personal purchases before cutting back on purchases for their dogs and cats: 79% would reduce spending on vacations; 77% on clothing; 49% on certain personal/family food items; 41% Internet/cable and 41% on gas. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/money-woes-and-tough-economic-times-don’t-matter-to-your-pet.aspx To support its eye vitamin product lines, Bausch + Lomb developed the Joy of Site program for those suffering from or at risk for developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Catalyst was tasked with improving communication vehicles to increase compliance and trial among members. Catalyst redesigned and improved communications to current members, focusing on accurately segmenting the audiences in order to provide more relevant content and offers. We further segmented coupon offers based on previous redemption behavior and established a referral element. After only two mailings of a new format, coupon redemptions and trials increased. The first product recommended in a newly designed newsletter sold out and calls to a reference hotline increased. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/accurate-audience-segmentation-increases-eye-vitamin-compliance.aspx In the quick-lube industry, the ability to increase oil changes per day translates into substantial revenue growth. In order to develop the relationships Valvoline Instant Oil Change had with their customers as well as make a substantive, measurable and profitable impact on number of oil changes per day, Catalyst created a logistic regression model ("Reactivation Model") to predict the likelihood of a lapsed customer returning to VIOC for service. Our ability to organize and compile customer data, then leverage and refine it in order to drive the message and the timing of direct mail proved effective. With the ability to target those customers who are more likely to respond, we had better control over driving incremental oil changes. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/building-predictive-customer-behavior-models-to-drive-traffic.aspxThe New Marketing Reality Consumers are in the driver's seat. The Web has put them there. Today's savvy consumers engage with brands on their terms-when they want and how they want. They connect with brands through multiple channels--researching, comparing, and buying as they choose-on the Web, through the mail, over the phone, and in brick and mortar stores. The most successful marketers are the ones who recognize and adapt to this new reality … relationships with today's consumers occur at the consumer's discretion. The brand no longer calls the shots. As marketers, we must be relevant, credible and accessible in all channels-wherever the consumer wants to engage. As more and more consumers are engaging with brands across channels, our marketing efforts must be integrated. A New Kind of Agency The new realities of marketing require a new kind of agency. Not a traditional media agency, not a direct marketing agency, and not an interactive agency, but an agency that can seamlessly link marketing in the offline world to marketing in the online world. And it can deliver consistent, branded experiences and messages across all channels. Catalyst is that new kind of agency. We've been preparing for the new realities in marketing for more than a decade, combining the scientific targeting of traditional direct marketing with the engagement and interactivity of the Web. A robust database environment supports a portfolio of Web, email, search, mobile and display capabilities. And because analytics is part of our traditional direct marketing DNA, we're leveraging intelligence derived from data to drive our online marketing work. We've developed a powerful Web analytics capability that allows us to optimize our online marketing efforts in real time. We understand when media and channels complement each other and when they compete. In the coming years, as more consumers engage with brands online, the number of customer data points that can be tracked and measured will increase dramatically. Each search, each visit, each click, and each registration will provide us with even more marketing-actionable customer information. And as we link customer data in the offline world to marketing in the online world, such data will need to be gathered, analyzed, and leveraged across channels. The marketing and analytics teams at Catalyst have already begun working with clients to develop databases, systems and tools that can provide a holistic view of customer behavior and relationships across all media and in all channels. The days of delivering segmented messages in a single channel are fading as the Catalyst team develops capabilities that can predict behavior and deliver thousands of customized marketing messages to individual consumers consistently across multiple channels.http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/the-integrated-marketing-challenge.aspx When Valvoline's Engine Guarantee program first launched, the customer had to go through many steps to enroll--visit a Website, input a lot of detailed information (such as VIN #), and click through multiple pages. In the interest of increasing enrollment, Catalyst sought to simplify the process by leveraging customer data. Customers were sent an email with a simple option: click a button and be enrolled. We actually embedded the customer data directly into the email so no further steps were required. This Click-to-Enroll email significantly increased enrollment. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/one-click-email-enrollments-improve-loyalty-program-sign-ups,-drive-traffic.aspx Kodak asked Catalyst to launch a global campaign that delivers the value proposition of its solutions-based approach for Unified Workflow. We leveraged high-impact direct marketing to generate demand and highly qualified leads and establish Kodak as the workflow and software leader in the printing industry. This intensely targeted multitouch campaign included online, offline and a strong telemarketing effort. Variable data printing was used to version the dimensional marketing package, based on audience segment, as well as a personalized URL page. The campaign achieved a 13.3% overall lead rate. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/targeting-prospects-with-laser-sharp-accuracy.aspxCatalyst won one of BtoB Magazine’s best creative awards of 2009 in the Nontraditional category for our “Catalyst Bat Phone.”  Our goal in this mailing, targeted to editors of advertising industry publications, was to either write articles for these publications, be written about, and/or be contacted and sourced as industry experts. We scheduled meetings with editors of leading industry-based trade magazines in NYC. Realizing that they are constantly approached by agencies for story and PR opportunities, we knew we had to differentiate ourselves. We also wanted to make it easy for these editors to contact us when they needed a resource or industry expert. The best way to accomplish these tasks was to do what we do best — make an impact with a unique, relevant and useful door-breaker. We succeeded.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/catalyst-named-to-btob-magazine’s-best-of-2009.aspx Weyerhaeuser had never implemented a direct marketing strategy in their Business-to-Business efforts. They selected Catalyst to develop a comprehensive direct marketing program to promote the Retail Experience Network, generate buzz in the market, create demand and deliver leads for the sales force. We developed an engaging, multitouch, integrated online and offline campaign, including a strong telemarketing effort. The campaign educated key decision makers in targeted companies on the Retail Experience Network. Catalyst generated a 17% lead rate, well above the industry standard of 8% to 12%. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/an-eye-popping-way-to-generate-demand-in-the-b-to-b-arena.aspx United Way of Greater Rochester and the City of Rochester created the OneCity Connection initiative to improve the number of volunteers, volunteer hours and retention rate. The program had to move people from intention to action by promoting volunteerism as fun and personally rewarding. Our campaign focused on volunteers enjoying the unexpected personal benefits of volunteering and included a website, radio, magazine, newspaper and billboard advertising. Immediately after the campaign launched, site traffic improved significantly, with about 10 percent of the traffic continuing to explore even more volunteer opportunities. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/increasing-volunteerism-through-billboards,-radio,-print-ads-and-online-.aspx Thermo Fisher Scientific's Nalgene Nunc division needed an easy way to create contracts and process rebates from its distributors. Each constituent in sales, product management, marketing and finance had a set of requirements and business rules that needed to work seamlessly. Catalyst developed a website utilizing ASP.NET and SQL Server technology that was roles-driven, meeting the business needs of each user group. The solution connected to the SAP on the back end for updates to the product and pricing information and for rebates processing. After our system went into production, the time for processing rebates decreased over 50%. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/monthly-rebates-processing-once-took-two-finance-resources-now-requires-only-one.aspx Even though M&T Bank's products were Web-based, it didn't have a demo feature, so its sales force was unable to showcase its web-based tools/solutions for commercial customers. Catalyst worked with M&T sales and product management teams to create a solution that would accurately represent all features and functions of the products in order to differentiate M&T from competitors and help close deals. We developed demo websites for each product. The acceptance and feedback from the sales force was tremendous; they were able to sit down and walk the client or prospect through the product's features/functions and show that M&T understands what's important in their business. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/showcasing-products-for-commercial-banking-customers-with-web-based-tools.aspx Kodak wanted to launch and promote its new ScanMate desktop scanner in the already highly saturated SOHO market. They turned to Catalyst for a plan to communicate with the audience on a regular basis-not just a one-time mailing. We would do this by educating prospects on key concepts and products and engaging them on their terms, keeping the Kodak name top of mind. We used a combination of PURLs, oversized postcards, microsites, emails and follow-up mailings that created buzz and excitement and incited response. In fact, our multitouch approach of integrating http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/nurturing-campaign-achieves-tremendous-response-rate-through-use-of-multiple-channels-of-engagement.aspx Kodak created a new family of revolutionary digital flexo printing plates for the package printing market. Catalyst developed a two-phased, multitouch demand generation campaign that showcased the new technology's capabilities. We mailed a candy-filled pouch highlighting the advantages of the new system through its packaging design and print quality. This campaign launched years before the technology was widely available, positioning Kodak as the leader in the market. Prospects were impressed with the quality of the showcase creative-it was memorable, paved the way for our outbound telemarketing and garnered impressive results. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/product-announcement-showcases-the-technology-in-action-increases-results.aspx Small newspapers are the largest segment in the newspaper category and typically the last to convert to computer-to-plate (CTP) printing. Kodak's competition was selling plates below cost, creating a perception that Kodak was too expensive. Extensive up-front survey verification calling to prospects was conducted, resulting in a solid list of high-value targets. An eye-catching, highly personalized direct mail piece and email were sent out to educate the target on the innovative solutions and bundled packaging from Kodak that would bring them to the next level. A strong Web presence and a great offer rounded out the program. Catalyst garnered a 15% lead rate and a 3% campaign response rate from the campaign. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/creating-a-shift-in-attitude-increases-sales-leads.aspx Kodak understands unique printing environments and wanted to reach out beyond the commercial print space to deliver that message to in-plant operations and digital service bureaus. An eye-catching dimensional package was produced using a combination of traditional offset and variable data printing technology. Since we believe everyone is a consumer at heart, an ice cream scoop was included in every package mailed and every responder received a fun offer of free ice cream. Catalyst knew Kodak needed to make a splash with this audience-not only with exciting offers and creative, but with personalized online and offline messaging. Nine percent responded with completed surveys online and follow-up telemarketing generated a 13% lead rate-over $6 million in the pipeline! http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/sweet-offer-leads-to-even-sweeter-response.aspx Kodak developed software specifically to help ad agencies and creatives streamline the job creation process. This was a new audience, with virtually no existing market share. Catalyst targeted key prospects through a mix of existing prospect databases and purchased lists. Data on this segment's pain points was also collected through up-front telemarketing. The campaign needed to create awareness, educate prospects and promote recall among an audience who is more critical of the creative aspect of the campaign. The creative had to work especially hard to get their attention. A versioned "boom box" mailing drove prospects to a PURL that captured information and garnered a 5.1% response rate and generated a 10x ROI. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/making-noise-in-the-creative-marketplace-gains-attention-with-target-audience.aspx As the authority on print, Kodak wanted to leverage a brand strategy that would provide a value-add across a multitude of industries. Kodak would provide those who rely on print every day—essentially everyone—with an online resource destination that included information to support the power of print. Oh, and by the way, it’d actually be a fun read with a real personality. In the first month, the Print Ambassador Web site that Catalyst created for Kodak had more than 5,000 site visits and generated more than 100 leads.http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/behold-the-power-of-print.aspx ITT Oil & Gas products and services are scattered across three management companies with multiple Value Centers. Catalyst was asked to develop a print and interactive campaign to promote the ITT Oil & Gas solution, help drive sales leads, and learn what prospects want and where they are in the consideration cycle. Catalyst created a microsite that continues to educate the audience on the myriad of products and services offered under the ITT brand; also included were customer emails and internal sales emails for tracking purposes. The campaign saw a prospect response rate of 1.7%, exceeding the industry average of 0.75% - 1.5%. Pageviews averaged 6.74 per visit, with a low abandon rate. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/generating-qualified-leads-and-enhancing-them-for-cross-sell-opportunities.aspxAt Catalyst, our average long-term client relationship is over six years. We think that's because of our shared business objectives: when our clients succeed, we succeed. Part of what makes this work is our incentive compensation agreement. These agreements are getting a lot of buzz lately, but it's something we've been doing for quite a whle.  Our ICAs are not predicated on response rates, impressions, or click-throughs.  Instead, they’re based on real business results. To make this happen, we:  Align our goals with those of the marketing team we support Establish a risk/reward structure that gives us significant incentive to meet and exceed established goals--but costs us money if we do not Maintain a fair cash position so we earn as we go (unlike a bonus that pays us at year’s end and further compromises our cash position) Establish the metrics We start by determining how much work will be required for the account and the compensation required for delivery—similar to every other client/agency working agreement.  Part of this compensation is held back in reserve and is paid based on our ability to meet the goal. The linchpin of this is the creation of a Holdout cell.  Results are measured by comparing a Marketable Universe cell to the Holdout cell.  The Holdout cell includes a randomly selected mix of customers.  This group will receive no targeted direct marketing communications during the course of the year. The Marketable Universe includes all other records in the database that are available for targeted communications.  We use a Holdout cell to show us what customers would naturally do on their own, without communications from us, in order to reflect the true effect of our communications. Shared goals, mutual success. In essence, once we and our client have agreed on the goal (sales, visits to a location, etc.), a large part of our compensation is based on how we perform.  If we meet 50% of the objective, we get 50% of the reserve; 100% of the goal, 100% of the reserve; 150% of the goal, 150% of the reserve. The results? We are as focused on our clients’ business results just as much as they are.  In the words of one of our clients, “I have never worked with a partner more collaborative and more engaged in all aspects of our business…the team puts together both short-term as well as long-term plans and strategies to help us continually move our efforts forward.” Want to learn more? Email me at mosborn@catalystinc.com or give me a call at 585-453-8300.  http://www.catalystinc.com/articles/incentive-compensation.aspx GE Money embarked on a joint venture with a major retail client to promote its credit card programs. They needed to create a web experience that was consistent with their brand, yet included easy-to-understand transactional pages. Catalyst bridged the gap between brand consistency and a more unified experience by providing a clear comparison between cards and a straightforward explanation of features, revising the information architecture and design, revamping the consumer and business credit center, creating a new credit card informational page for each product, integrating online account management sign-up and log-in, and developing an interactive card selector tool. The relaunched pages significantly increased the application completion rate. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/improving-online-user-experience-increases-application-completion-rate.aspx The Center needed a new website that would help parents bridge the gap between the anxiety following their child's developmental delay diagnosis and the sense of relief after learning there is help. The site also needed to increase awareness, permit online donations, and recruit employees. Catalyst conducted a workshop and in-depth research with the Mary Cariola team to ensure that the site met their objectives, rather than delivering a site based on what's perceived as unnecessarily flashy. We then created a visually appealing site that is feature-rich, content-deep and easy to use. It provides hope and education to parents, informs the community, allows donors to donate online, and attracts quality teachers and staff. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/a-visually-appealing-website-that-is-feature-rich,-content-deep-and-easy-to-use-.aspx Catalyst developed a Web site that helped Valvoline Instant Oil Change franchisees manage and control virtually all of their direct marketing needs. It allowed them to access, create, edit, and revise on the fly in order to successfully manage their direct marketing programs--and saved them time and money in the process. The site contained tools that allowed users to manage and update artwork, correct invalid addresses, customize store Web pages and more. It also included an ROI calculator and the ability to run, receive and analyze up-to-date direct mail reporting for their individual businesses. These tools resulted in dramatic increases in program participation among franchisees. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/catalyst-develops-customized-tools-for-franchisees,-allowing-them-to-better-manage-their-business.aspx It's no surprise that the maker of the world's first engine oil offered the world's first engine guarantee. Drivers could register to participate in the Valvoline Engine Guarantee program via a simple three-step process at valvoline.com, then use Valvoline motor oil regularly, and their engine can be guaranteed up to 300,000 miles. To help maintain compliance in the program, Catalyst developed cross-channel initiatives: mail reminders were sent out, as well as the option to choose email or mobile reminders-all continually improved across multiple channels. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/loyalty-program-keeps-customers-coming-back.aspx Violet plates represent a significant revenue opportunity in the small to medium commercial print market. Kodak product ranges from comparable to superior in relation to the competition. But Kodak was late to the game and awareness and market share were all but nonexistent. Catalyst had to effectively "relaunch" the product into the marketplace. 1,000 high-potential prospects with a competitive product were mailed and called to create some excitement in the marketplace. A free box of plates was offered to educate and drive trial usage. Qualified leads were passed through to the Kodak Certified Dealer Network for follow-up, offer fulfillment and a product demo. The highly successful campaign achieved 233 qualified leads. http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/channel-sales-feeding-the-pipeline-for-kodak’s-certified-dealer-network.aspx Catalyst and Valvoline Instant Oil Change launched a highly successful SEM coupon redemption campaign to improve location traffic. In just over a year, there was a significant increase in coupon redemption and in the number of new customers.    Through these SEM campaigns, and by testing different offers, we also found that online search was an effective and less expensive way of acquiring customers, compared to reaching them by mail.   http://www.catalystinc.com/releases/coupon-redemptions-speak-louder-than-words,-thanks-to-search-engine-marketing.aspx