An interesting read by Jeff Nelson:

One of the concepts that I have learned from Joanne O’Connell is the difference between a measure and a metric. Joanne O’Connell and I are developing a system for tracking and analyzing marketing campaigns. We also teach a course on marketing metrics at the University of Calgary.

I honestly thought that a measure and a metric were the same thing and I used the terms interchangeably. But I learned from Joanne that the difference is significant and important.

A “measure” is a number that is derived from taking a measurement. Your height, weight or temperature would all be measures. In the case of marketing, examples of measures would be the number of impressions, the number of visits to a website or the number of sales generated by campaign on Google’s AdWords search network.

In contrast, a “metric” is a calculation between two measures. Typically, the calculation is a form of division. The format of the calculated result can be a percentage, a ratio, a fraction, a decimal or a multiple.

• A percentage is a calculation where the fraction is multiplied by 100. The expression is %. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentage. An example is Return on Investment (ROI).
• A ratio compares the number of one thing to another. The expression is 16:9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratio. An example would be for every pair of pant sold we sold 2 shirts.
• A fraction is typically expressed as one number compared to another. For example, 3/4 which is three quarters of a whole.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraction_(mathematics). An example would be 3/4 of our marketing budget was spent on the Chicago trade show.
• A decimal is a calculation where the fraction is expressed as a decimal point. The expression is 1.23http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_fraction#Decimal_fractions. An example is 2.42 Pages per Session.
• A multiple is a number that is greater than what it is compared to. This would be similar to that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_earnings_ratio. An example is our format for Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI): For every $1 spent on marketing we generated $5 in Revenue and $2 in Profit.

The value of measures is that a marketing team can measure the results of their marketing activities. For example, between two time periods: the visits in February were 1,000 and 1,200 in March.

The beauty of a metric is that the marketing team can establish and compare performance. For example: The click through rate (CTR) increased from 1% in February to 3% in March and the result was a 20% increase in visits.

The website for the marketing metrics system that Joanne and I are developing isMx3 Metrics.

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For those of you who didn’t get to see Mark Heard in action at the Palliser Hotel on Thursday June 25th… we are tracking him down for a follow-up interview and a copy of his presentation.

lining up for autographs…

For those of you who did attend – Thanks for coming out, and we look forward to seeing you next September when we start up a whole new series…

Sue L. Blanchard, recently spoke with Mark Heard, Director of User Experience and Content Strategy for Evans Hunt.  As the strategist behind branded content for clients like ATB Financial, Agrium and NASA, Mark alludes to the content he plans to present during CMA’s luncheon on June 25, 11:30 to 1 pm, at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel.

Mark, tell me about your work in digital user experience and content strategy.

I came to digital user experience and content strategy by way of journalism and communications. I spent my 20s doing overseas development communications gigs with the UN around Asia and writing Travel Guidebooks. Best job in the world, but tough to pay a mortgage on the proceeds.

Travel writing parlayed well into user experience and content strategy work: it’s all about creating the information customers want and need, and making sure they know where to get it.

At Evans Hunt, I work with our clients to help them understand their customers’ journeys and the content those customers need along the way.

You create strategic plans to manage digital content.  What factors do you consider?

The most important ones are customer needs and wants. One of the biggest challenges organizations face is getting themselves out of their own internally-focused mindsets. Many have a base set of assumptions about their users or customers that may in fact not be true. The result is that they spend a lot of time on content and marketing that their end customers may, in fact, care little about.

The other component is guiding organizations to become great content creators. Content Strategy isn’t rocket science (aside for NASA’s, I guess): it’s all about understanding your organization’s strategic goals. Once we do that, some restructuring is often needed in order to create the content team. On the governance side of things, many organizations are missing a few key roles that are required to create great content.

What nuggets of wisdom do have for marketers about managing their digital content?

1. Know your customers’ journeys. How did they find out about you?  What do they want to know about you? On what channels? At what times? Use primary research if you can – if not analytics, and secondary research; and craft your end-to-end customer journeys.

2. Designate or hire an editor-in-chief and a managing editor; preferably with journalism backgrounds. The key is to have people who know story-telling and publishing, to lead your content initiatives.

3. Measure, measure, measure. Someone needs to be looking at the analytics, so you know what’s resonating with your customers and what isn’t.

Tell me about your work for NASA?

My first large-scale content strategy project was for NASA in 2003, while I worked at a local agency called Critical Mass. At the time, NASA.gov was a very plain, static and grey governmental website, while there were literally thousands of individual websites within the organization. Kennedy Space Centre had their own site, Jet Propulsion Laboratory had their own site, and individual astrophysicists had their own sites. It was a bit of a mess. In conjunction with designing a new Nasa.gov portal to capture and present all of the amazing NASA content in existence, we helped the organization create an editorial governance model. It was no small task as you can imagine, involving editorial board design, roles & responsibilities for everyone involved with the portal, and specific workflows.

One element of the site’s content strategy was put to the test on February 1st. We launched the website the previous evening and the following morning when the space shuttle Columbia crashed upon re-entry the new site received millions of hits, and fortunately stayed up.  A dark site strategy ensured users could access latest developments (for example, what to do if you found shuttle debris in your back yard, etc.)…

Intrigued…. Register for the June 25 Lunch presentation Right Now!

People Love Videos

Recent forecasts from Cisco Systems suggest that the number of online video consumers will double to 1.5 billion by 2015, with total online video consumption predicted to quadruple. Since video usage is growing, businesses cannot neglect video as a viable marketing channel. Video allows businesses to create and share remarkable content with their audience in a way that plain text will never match. People love videos because they do not always have the patience or time to read through a lengthy product description. They would rather opt to watch a video that tells them more than words possibly could.

Videos Get Results

While making and publishing videos may not directly bring in the money, smart businesses use video marketing as a tactic to improve consumer engagement, click-throughs, and traffic. A study provided by Implix showed that including video in emails increased open rates by 5.6% and click-through-rates by 96.38% when compared to emails that did not contain videos.

Videos also help to bring in search traffic since the major search engines started ranking videos in their results pages. In this blog post, Forrester Research shares that videos have a 50 times better chance of ranking within the first page Google for their respective keywords. Videos also increase traffic for businesses when they are shared, and with video marketing, there is always opportunity for videos to go viral.

Videos Recreate the In-Store Experience for Customers

Since the digital age has allowed consumers to shop from the comfort of their home, shoppers have lost the ability to actually feel, play with, and see products in person. When businesses create detailed demo videos that explain their products or services, customers do not feel as if they have lost that in-store experience when shopping online. Also, with thorough videos, customer service is no longer burdened with obvious questions such as, “How does the product work?” when the video tells customers all they need to know to make their purchasing decisions.

Videos are Fun for You and Your Customers

Creating a business video is pretty exciting once you get your creative juices flowing. Instead of typing away at a blog post, figuring out just the right words to perfectly describe your business’ product or service, you can make a video that brings your offering to life. This is a great way to let loose and go wild when you conjure up all your creative energies and make an awesome video that everyone besides your mother will want to watch.

Video Marketing is New-Age Marketing

Since social media has redefined marketing, videos have become an integral part of any successful marketing mix. Cross-promoting your videos with all the other content you have is a powerful way to strengthen the different signals you are sending to customers.

A successful video marketing campaign requires support from all your other marketing channels. Share your videos on your Facebook and Twitter accounts; incorporate them into some of your blog posts; and include them in your next email newsletter. Businesses should make awesome videos that complement their overall marketing strategy and keep consumer engagement high.

While video marketing is not a one-stop solution to fame and fortune, the power of video is undeniable.

Thanks to Gil Ngai, President at Calgary Professional Videographers Association & Chief Storyteller at Day One Media, for the contribution.

Find out on May 20th…

But for now, to explore CMA’s presentation topic on how marketers and their agencies can work together for top-rung results, Sue Blanchard, spoke with Trent Burton, the Creative Director of the WAX Partnership.  In the interview below, Trent shares the nuts ‘n’ bolts of what constitutes great creative for any type of marketing communications ranging from a logo to a multi-media campaign.  Plan to register for Trent’s presentation, and luncheon on May 20, 11:30 to 1:00 pm at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel.

Tell me about your upcoming presentation on what constitutes good creative.

After nearly 20 years in advertising, I’ll be the first to tell you there’s no definitive answer to what constitutes good creative. It’s subjective. Everyone has an opinion. And rightfully so. But what I can say with certainty is that there are certainly criteria you can put against an idea that increases your odds of recognizing whether it’s good or not. My presentation will look at what I think you can do to either judge great creative and or get the best creative out of your advertising agency. It’s a tightrope to be sure, but one I think more marketers shouldn’t be afraid to walk on.

What factors go into a great marketing communications campaign?

There are two or two-and-a-half overarching factors to get you moving in the right direction.

Is the campaign both original and relevant? Creativity for the sake of creativity is wasted effort. If the idea is original and it speaks to your target in a way that’s emotionally relevant then you’ve got a winner.

Are you talking to the right people? All too often marketers try and cast the widest net in their efforts to attract customers. Understandable. But I would argue that you see more effective results when you define your target and speak to them and only them.

What services does your agency provide?

WAX is a full-service advertising, design and brand building agency. That means we do everything but media buying.  It was important to us when we started ten years ago to concentrate on what we knew we were (and still are) good at.  And that’s using creativity as a business tool to build brands. So, whether we’re designing a logo, online content or a full-on advertising campaign, we’re always asking ourselves a few of crucial questions.

• What’s the business challenge?
• How do we use creativity to solve it?
• Is this the best manifestation of the client’s brand?

But back to your question….  I think the service WAX ultimately provides is ideas. That’s our stock in trade.

What advice do you have for clients on how to work with creative teams?

It’s a great question. And while there’s lots of ground to cover there, I’ll start with one crucial piece of advice for clients of advertising agencies:  Be clear.  It will inevitably lead to better work.

Be clear with the business problem you’re trying to solve. Be clear in the direction you want to go. And be clear in your feedback, good or bad.

And if you haven’t book your seats or table already, now is the time.

On their cross-Canada tour, industry experts are stopping in Calgary to share insights and stories around their – and quite possibly your – customers’ demographic preferences, emotional triggers and shopping behaviours.

Direct Mail (DM) is an efficient, highly targeted and very effective way to reach your target market. DM also allows you to accurately measure your response rate and make adjustments throughout your campaign.

If you have questions or have ever been curious about adding physical mail to your marketing mix, now is your chance to explore your options…

Register while you still can…

Roger Grant will be speaking at our next Luncheon on April 22. As a seasoned professional in the Name Game, Roger has amassed case studies of his and his clients’ successes. below is one of them:

Launching a New Venture

A seasoned corporate executive was launching a new solo venture.  Brian Hamilton was setting up a management consulting firm to serve small and mid size businesses throughout western Canada.

Big Name Competitors
As the former CFO of a high tech success story, Brian had both the knowledge and experience to counsel clients on succession planning, financing, mergers and acquisitions.  But his new firm would be an unknown entity competing against the big name accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers…read more