110 Real-Life Tips from Fellow Marketers -- Free from Marketing Sherpa

I downloaded the new edition (it's free!) of Marketing Sherpa's  Marketing Wisdom for 2007 last month, but it somehow wormed it's way to the bottom of my reading pile. When I finally unearthed it a couple of days ago, I was astonished to find so many great ideas from my peers.

This report is a great promo for Marketing Sherpa -- and requires minimal writing and editing on the staff's part. They simply  ask readers for their best marketing ideas, pick the best and pass them on.  (An idea for another time and another post -- what content do you have in-house, or can get from your volunteer or donor base, that you can re-package for your audiences?)

Let me share a few with you:

• #41 -- Your organization's ability to motivate audiences correlates with your understanding and management of the dynamic tension of complex human behavior. In other words, look beyond the obvious. The Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation took a non-traditional path in its campaign against teen smoking.While most folks targeting teens focus on their individuality (a key teen characteristic, along with self-absorption), the Foundation also responded to the teen values that contradict these behaviors -- altruism and a craving to belong to a larger group. The OTPF campaign (spurring teens to debunk smoking myths). created altruism that satisfied a personal need, and group identification that allowed for individuality.
• #43 -- The personal touch continues to cut through the clutter. A direct mail agency reports that offline marketing is alive and kicking, and that nothing cuts it like the handwritten personal note and signature on a request for donations or membership. Get out those pens!
• #63 -- The power of social networking is in building awareness, then your organization has to bring that lead to the call to action -- the doorway to a successful campaign. BMW leans heavily on YouTube as a secondary (and free) venue for their commercials. They generate a huge number of views, but BMW recognizes that this just builds awareness. They add links and ads to these YouTube pages to move these views towards action (getting information, buying).  that these are just building

And a couple of tactical tips:

• Carefully-crafted HTML e-newsletters frequently look like gobbledygook on BlackBerrys. Test your e-communications in all venues.
• Email recipients click much more frequently on links in sidebars and callouts, than those within body Copy.

Get the Getting Attention e-news? Subscribe now for key articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

 

Comments

[Sunny Smith]

Thanks for the link to this resource - always nice to be able to find some tried and true tips from others involved with marketing. I have found some good stuff on Marketing Sherpa (including their 2009 Wisdom document), but this slipped through the cracks. And the tip about testing HTML email marketing messages to be viewed on Blackberrys is very valuable - and something that my organization has not done!