** Tig's weekly column fields questions from and for marketers. Got a question for Tig? Email him by clicking here. **
Dear Tig,
What is the most effective frequency for the sending of customer e-newsletters?
Thanks, Not Spamming in Redwood Shores
Dear Not Spamming,
I went to the experts on this one, contacting Robin Neifield of NetPlusMarketing. According to Robin, a lot of factors come into play, not the least of which is what you have to say to your customers and how interested they are in information about the category.
Forced to generalize, Robin reports that monthly is probably as frequent as you would want to mail.
Robin's company is looking to do more frequent and more useful mailings through customization and integration with existing customer contact points, like bills and account statements. But barring these special circumstances, companies run the risk of both boring and annoying customers with too many mailings.
Dear Tig,
My client wants to “do email,” although neither she nor I have any experience with it. We've just been buying banners for the past two years. Where do I start?
Thanks, Clueless
Dear Clueless,
Detailing the email process may be too tall an order for this column, but I can outline the process and provide a couple pointers. In chronological order…
- Make sure that your client understands that your company will need to be paid for its learning-curve time, which will likely amount to more costs than your typical banner-planning session. This needs to happen before you start.
- Develop an explicit objective for the campaign--preferably one measurable through the email process.
- Determine what email lists are available to the client--often the advertiser will have an existing, unused, or ill-used list. Seek others from partners and relevant sites with which you have a relationship.
- Find out what list brokers have to offer. I hate to say it, but list brokers vary greatly in quality and reliability. Don't take anything on faith. List brokers with direct-mail business components tend to be the most trustworthy but the most expensive as well. Test the lists and make sure you have legal terms and guarantees that will protect your client's investment in the event the broker pawns off spam addresses.
- Develop an execution plan, including partners and technologies to be used for the actual mailing.
- Institute a service plan for the fulfillment of the email campaign, including extra staff resources necessary at the client company to handle responses.
- Use responses to help develop the client's in-house email list.
This is hardly a sufficient review, but these tips might point you in some right directions.
Some final advice: don't skimp on hiring copywriters with email-specific experience.
Dear Tig,
I've had a crush on a certain company rep for almost a year now. Last week, after a business dinner, we visited a few bars together, and he eventually brought me to his apartment, where we became sort of romantically involved (I think).
The question I believe appropriate for you is whether or not this new relationship creates a conflict of interest for me.
Sincerely, Confused in NYC
Dear Confused,
Yes, you are in conflict, but he may or may not be. You didn't ask for this advice, but let's start with him first.
1. If he has no romantic interest in you, his motivation is to sell his company's media.
2. If he is romantically interested in you, his motivation is to sell his company's media.
3. If he's just having some physical fun with you, his motivation is to sell his company's media.
One of the great benefits to being on the sell side of the business is that there exists, ironically, a greater degree of moral clarity. You, however, are a tougher case.
If you have a life-changing relationship with him, then you find yourself pulled in two directions. You may be tempted to give him a greater share of a media buy, at the expense of the efficiency of your client's campaign. If you have that relationship with him, and it later explodes in acrimony, then you may be tempted to leave him off the buy, again at the potential expense of your client's campaign efficiency.
Theoretically, you should either request a different rep for that media property, or hand the planning over to another buyer. In reality, though, most companies have policies forbidding just this type of dating, and it can cause career-hurting ripples, particularly for the rep.
My advice: first, do the right thing. You must be fair to the client and consider those interests above all others when making media decisions. If this does indeed turn out to be a significant romantic relationship (which doesn't seem to be at all clear on his part), then you will have to make a decision as to which side must yield to new representation.
