Thoughts on Marketing

Dear {user_name}. Please be my friend…

[Originally published as The Marketing Mix newsletter on Substack]

It seems rare these days to get an email that doesn’t have my name in the subject line or the opening sentence. So this so-called personalization is irrelevant.

And worse. If you do it wrong, it can actually hurt you. [If I get an email to Steven or STEVE, it’s pretty clear it’s junk]

And what do you do, as a marketer, if you don’t have that data? You use a platitude like “valued customer,” or “Whisky drinker.” Seems clever, right? But if you’re going to do that, be very thoughtful about the context.

I got one this week, from PBS. Their chosen platitude appears to be “Friend.”

Two mistakes here. Firstly, the subject line – “Top Picks for Friend” – clearly tells me that they don’t know who I am. It just doesn’t work in this context.

The second is that the content of the email itself wasn’t personalized (unless the algorithm has somehow decided that I enjoy national parks, Italian drama and bluegrass music…!)

My guidelines on personalization:

• It only works if your name data is very good and very clean
• Look at your platitude in the actual context. Does it make sense?
• Avoid using a Company Name tag. They’re a minefield, with misspellings, singular/plural issues and and unnatural formations (LLC, Corp etc)
• Think about if it really is going to have an impact: Does the potential gain outweigh the risks of poor data

When you think about email personalization, look beyond the name. What people really want is information that is useful to them.

So segmenting your database – into interests, or purchase behavior, or geography – and customizing the content will get you far more juice. It allows you to craft more relevant subject lines, increasing your open rate. It provides a better experience to the reader, so reducing unsubscribes and improving your credibility.

And, let’s be honest. It makes you a better human 😎

Should every business have a website?

No surprise. My answer to this is “yes.” But it was the subject of a popular Linkedin post from an SEO expert a couple of weeks ago. And so I thought it was a good topic for this week’s Marketing Mix podcast.

As Mike Moran commented, on my own Linkedin Post “I actually think it would be easier to be missing a phone number than a website.” (!)

I explain the various goals a B2B company might have for their website, and the type of content that might lead to. And I talk about the approaches to designing and building it – from a simple one-pager to a more complex product selector.

Listen Now

Drink of the Week

I was in Louisville, Kentucky last weekend. And while whisky to me really means Scotch, not Bourbon, it seemed rude not to sample some of the local product 😏

We had a fun visit to the Stitzel-Weller distillery (home of Pappy Van Winkel) with a tasting “experience”, pairing three of their whiskies with local chocolates. And I was amazed to see how the taste changes depending on the type of chocolate. The same bourbon, tasted after dark and then milk chocolate, had a very different flavor.

So instead of recommending a cocktail this week (an Old Fashioned seems to be the go-to in Louisville), I’m going to suggest you grab a bottle of bourbon, some chocolate bars, and try it out for yourself. 🥃

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Cheers!

Steve