Personally, I think online display advertising is minimally effective. I would not say completely ineffective because I do believe there is a certain situation where it works well. This is when a website that you visit often is able to track you and advertise their products even when you are on other pages. I know this sounds confusing, and I will try to explain it better. For example, one website that I used to visit quite frequently is www.dogfunk.com (I even have their sticker on my macbook). Dogfunk is a website that has outdoor gear for sale, especially ski and snowboard gear. At one time, I was in the market for new pants, goggles, gloves, etc. I'm not sure how it works, but I started to notice that when I was on other websites, the banners I would see would almost always be Dogfunk advertisements. Somehow, Dogfunk realized that I was a customer, and all of the sudden every display ad that I saw was for Dogfunk. I see this as effective because instead of some random banner that I would normally have no interest in, I was only seeing display ads that had to do with a company that I was actually interested in. When this kind of consumer recognition takes place, display ads can actually be effective. That is why I say that this type of online advertising is minimally successful, not entirely unsuccessful.
Why do you believe "Will It Blend" has been so successful?
I think that "Will It Blend" has been so successful for the same reason that Orabrush has found success: they have managed to create an appealing YouTube campaign. "Will It Blend" did not need to spend millions of dollars on television ads. Instead, all they needed to do was create videos that were entertaining enough for people to go out of their way to watch. People do not tell their friends, "Hey you have to check out this awesome guy and his blender." What they say is, "Man you have to check out this video. This guy throws an iPhone into a blender and sees if it will blend." The appeal of the video is not the blender itself, but what Tom Dickson (Blendtec's CEO) chooses to put into the blender. After you watch the video, you start to think to yourself about how strong and effective the blender is to be able to blend such sturdy objects. However, that is not what got you to watch the video in the first place. If someone told you about a video where a man blends together a bunch of bananas, it wouldn't interest you at all. But you hear about a man blending an iPhone, and you have to watch it. This borrows from a concept that Andy Sernovitz talks about, and that is to be interesting, despite however uninteresting your product or service is. People do not typically get excited about a blender, but Tom Dickson found a way to do just that.
Name what you believe are the three most important rules for successful e-mail marketing and explain why?
First, you should always use opt-in to build your email lists. Like the book states, you will have a smaller list, but you will also be seen as more customer oriented. Instead of sending out mass emails to every address you can get your hands on, let consumers tell you when they want to hear from you. This way, you will not anger anyone who does not want to hear from you, and you will please the people who are actually interested. Another rule that I think goes along with this one is to allow users to easily unsubscribe from your mailing list. Sometimes, and I've experienced this myself, people get tired of receiving emails from a company. It doesn't do your company any good to keep on sending these people messages. Allow them to unsubscribe, and you will be better off in the long run.
A second rule that I particularly liked was that you should put plenty of links into each email. This makes the message much more interactive and interesting to read. As a consumer, I do not like reading an email and having to do the legwork myself. I would prefer to be able to click on whatever topics or offers are being discussed, as opposed to opening a browser and doing it myself. Remember, make it as easy as possible for consumers to interact with your company. Consumers are lazy, and if it takes too much effort, most will not even bother.
The third (perhaps most important) rule is to track open rates, response rates, and ROI. What good is using email if you have no way of tracking its success? See how successful your email campaigns are after each wave of new messages. Sending a coupon to 500 of your best customers? Track its success. Sending a survey to every customer on your mailing list? Track its response rate. Open rates are important as well. If customers are seeing your email and not even taking the time to open it, you should know about it. This is an obvious red flag that you are not doing something right. But, if you do not take the time to track this, you will never be able to fix the problem. Remember, the conversation is taking place whether you choose to listen or not. The only way to fix a problem is to make yourself aware of it.
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