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The March issue of Marketing magazine had a fascinating article by experienced recruitment specialist, Christine Khor, from Carrera Partners.

Khor lists the top seven skills that marketers will need to be successful in 2012. What she puts at the top of the list may surprise you.

No. 1: “Writing skills are critical” says Khor. And she should know. She has been in the recruitment business for many years. And her firm, Carrera, is very much a success story.

In the Marketing magazine article, Khor goes on to say:

“The written word once again dominates. The ability to develop clear, compelling text for multiple media, from traditional print to blogging, is essential.”

Now for the rest of the list of skills the marketing manager needs. (How do you rate yourself?)

2. Business savvy: an ability to hold commercial conversations, builds credibility and respect.

3. Insight into analytics and interpreting data: good marketers know how to use data to influence decisions at the strategy level.

4. Leadership: you must be a leader and be confident in your ability to drive a brand forward.

5. Curiosity, agility and experimentation: the best marketers need to be able to cultivate fresh thinking, build creative ideas and be ready to move quickly.

6. Understanding technology: understanding technology helps you quickly translate ideas into reality.

7. Understanding sociology: as well as understanding the customer, you need to be able to understand society more broadly.

You have probably heard marketing people say that direct mail is finished. Well, that’s just not true. As non fashionable as it is, mail still works. And in some cases it can be very powerful.

In the US, the spend on direct mail in 2011 will end up being around $60 billion. That’s some 40% of the combined spend on search, display, email and mobile advertising. There is no reason to believe that the relativity is any different in Australia.

Of course, you have to look beyond mail. It is only one of the channels available. But it certainly should be considered in the marketing mix. It should be considered because there are so many examples of it working well during the last twelve months and also because it has some very clear strengths:

Staying power: The reality is that mail hangs around. This is useful, particularly where you are dealing with something that is a considered purchase. Mail can stay around the home or office and be referred to over and over while prospects consult and discuss the pros and cons of buying.

Proven acquisition success: So many companies are still winning new customers by using mail. And not just any old companies. The biggest digital powerhouse of them all, Google, is now using mail!

Impact: Have you received a wedding invitation recently? Funny isn’t it how it came in the mail. It was so important, mail was used. The carefully chosen paper stock alone told you how special it was. You see, you touched the stock with your own hands. There is no sense of touch with SMS or email.

With the extensive range of digital and non-digital channels available today, it is best for marketers to be media neutral. All channels can be effective in particular situations and all should be considered – including mail - for a comprehensive marketing mix.

It's about time Australian marketing managers regained their clout.

Back in the old days, marketing managers commanded - and received - the respect they deserve.

Recruiter, Anthony Hourigan, from Hourigan International in Sydney, told Julian Lee (Business Age 8/4/11) "there's a belief in Australia that anyone can do marketing, that it can sort of be picked up by just about anyone."

"They are wrong, of course, but that's what people think".

Somehow, the marketing manager has been usurped. We've been left like a minor player who does little else than liaise with the ad agency.

As Julian Lee reminisces, the marketing manager "used to be the public face of a brand."

"Today that role has largely fallen to the corporate affairs department...who reduce anything to a meaningless load of corporate non-speak."

Well, fellow marketers, the time has come to wave the flag and raise the standard of marketing conversation.

Bring marketing back in house. Develop your internal creative and intellectual resources.

Live and breathe your product and defend it to the end. And send the Chief Financial Officer back to his ledgers when he calls for a review of your campaign costs.

Only marketers can raise the perception and reposition themselves. And as Julian Lee says, "if marketers can't do a better job of selling their profession, then who can?"

Networking helps tap new business opportunities. It builds awareness of your personal and business capability and expands the pool of potential resources you can call upon.

But does your networking sometimes feel like a waste of time?

Here are my quick tips to make your next networking event a success.

1. Get physical

It's important to get out and about and attend industry-appropriate events. There's nothing better than putting a face to a name. Mingle, be approachable and invite others to join your discussion.

2. Speak up

Be the first to strike up conversation and get the networking ball rolling. Be prepared with your 'elevator pitch' and ask questions of the people you meet.

3. Give and receive

Don't be shy about asking for contact details. And make sure you have ample supplies of your own business card. Jot down any relevant discussions on the back of your new contact's card for future reference.

4. Follow up

Where a meaningful connection is made, interesting discussion had, or direct commitment made, you must follow up promptly.And stay in touch through e-newsletter subscriptions or business networks such as LinkedIn.

We always hear about having the right 'skill set' for a role. But just as important is having the right personality and attitude.

Qualifications help, of course. But the right mind set is critical.

Successful marketers are people oriented. They really want to understand what makes their market tick. What motivates people and what makes them choose the things they choose?

Understanding a market involves getting to know people. That's essential. It's just like getting to know the characteristics of your friends. You watch them, talk to them and ask questions.

That's what good marketers do. Having passion for the market enables them to deliver on customer wants.

Marketers also have a naturally outgoing personality. They push the envelope. They want to be heard and get noticed.

They also want this for their product or service. Maximising free and paid publicity gets their product recognised, increases sales and improves profits.

Curiosity might have killed the cat but it does wonders for the marketer. Asking 'why' and testing 'what if' are traits of the insatiably curious. The best marketers are curious to the core.

New products, new segments and exploration into new media and modes of distribution would not occur without courageous and inquiring minds.

So are you a passionate extrovert who won't take no for an answer? If so, keep up the good work. You are well on the way to being an excellent marketer.

There is no guarantee with creative work.

If someone says he or she has a fool proof 'key' to being creative, don't believe it. It's an illusion. But there are a few techniques that almost always help.

It's all to do with careful thinking and the power of the subconscious.

Firstly, thinking: you need to think really carefully about your marketing plans and creative briefs. Pay special attention to the strategy, the offer and the channel. Ask yourself these sort of questions:

- What's your target's mindset going to be when your communication arrives?

- What's the most likely reason they'll say 'no'?

- What's your best argument for overcoming that 'no'?

- What unique, high-perceived value offer might motivate them?

- Where's the most effective place to reach them?

- Where's the less obvious, but potentially more effective place?

By coming up with well-considered responses to these important questions, you pave the way for a smart creative execution.

Then there is the powerful subconscious. The most valuable asset in the creative person's toolkit.

When you have wrestled with the above questions, and you are satisfied with what you have uncovered, close the case for the time being. Do something else. Give yourself at least 24 hours on other things.

When you return, it will be like turning a tap on. The ideas will flow.

That's the power of the subconscious.

A recent study conducted by Sweeney Research on behalf of Australia Post reveals valuable insights into the marketing channel preferences of Gen Y.

Who would have thought that 'snail mail' would be held in high esteem? But this research tells us that Gen Y has a high acceptance - even a preference - for communications through the mail.

• 87% of those surveyed said they like receiving addressed mail from businesses
• But only 18% of them regularly receive mail.

The sample of 16-24 year-olds surveyed typically spend 21 hours per week on the internet; six hours watching free-to-air TV and the rest of their time texting or talking on a mobile phone.

But if you don't already have a relationship with them, tread carefully.

• Less than a quarter of the survey respondents welcome a text message from a business they do not currently deal with.
• And nearly half of them 'hate' the use of Facebook by businesses where they have no relationship.

And don't even think about cold calling. Your brand will be mud if you call them at home or on the mobile.

Email is viewed as acceptable when they know you. But with the challenges of email filtering and the volume of competing messages, marketers must question the effectiveness of eDM.

Where there is no existing relationship, addressed mail to the letterbox is the most acceptable channel for introduction. Gen Y perceives it to be 'formal, important and personal'.

This research suggests you need to include mail in your marketing mix for the opportunity to engage with this valuable demographic.

Find out more about Channel Y: Media Preferences of Australia's Youth at www.openuptomail.com.au/ChannelY

 
With a history going back to 1919, KLM - now in joint partnership with Air France - is the world's largest airline. Maybe a bit big for social media, you may think.

Well, apparently not.

KLM has been wrestling with the issue that before their passengers fly, they sit in airports. And they are very bored.

The airline came up with the idea of randomly giving people small gifts while they wait. They use social media to identify when people are waiting. And judging by the positive word of mouth that is now spinning around the world, the experiment seems to be working. KLM passengers love it.

You can check out this 5-minute clip HERE to see how this initiative works for KLM, and while you do, maybe you could spend a minute thinking about how you could do something similar for your organisation.

It bothers me when people say they are not creative.

I have been teaching the Direct Marketing creative subject in the Masters of Marketing at Monash for 10 years and I happen to believe that everyone is creative.

Everyone comes up with creative solutions sometimes. It may be about how to avoid a traffic hold up. Or a creative solution for the evening meal. Or what to wear.

Being creative can touch every aspect of our lives.

Questions sometimes help. In Direct Marketing, some of the following questions may help you open up your creativity:

- What's your audience's mindset going to be when your communication arrives?
- What's the most likely reason they'll say no to your proposition?
- What's your best argument to overcome that no?
- What unique, high-perceived value offer might motivate them?
- Where's the most effective place to reach them?

Questions are great for creativity. They force you to look for solutions. And when you ask questions, you don't have to have a ready answer. Let the question sit for a while. A solution may emerge slowly.

Finally, my feeling is that creativity is a lot about self-belief. If you believe that you are creative, you will be more creative.

Recently, I have heard a number of marketers say "we need an iPhone app".
But this may be very superficial.

If we want to capitalise on the incredible growth in mobile, we need to think more carefully.

Mobile marketing is much deeper than a cool app or a simple SMS blast. Mobile marketing is as deep and different as every customer.

Smart companies don't market to gadgets or platforms. They market to customers. When and if mobile marketers adopt this strategy, they can increase the value of customer relationships via the mobile channel. Essentially, mobile marketing must be addressed through a proper customer segmentation strategy.

A critical, first consideration when planning a mobile marketing campaign is that the term "phone" now refers to a landline.

Today, people use "mobile devices" to text, send pictures, talk, email and so much more. And mobile devices are not limited to just smartphones or feature phones, but include any handheld that allows for interaction and remote connectivity.

Mobile devices now offer a plethora of new features and research is starting to show a resulting change in customer behaviour.

According to Washington based CTIA - The Wireless Association (an international nonprofit membership organisation that has represented the wireless communications industry since 1984) consumers sent almost 5 billion text messages per day in the last half of 2009. That's up a massive 25 percent from the previous year.

Plus, the number of multimedia messages - those that contain a picture or video - more than doubled year-on-year. No matter where we look, mobile data usage is increasing dramatically.

But not only that. Mobile commerce is rising quickly as well. A US Mobile Marketing Association study released a few weeks ago shows that 17 percent of all respondents used their mobile device to purchase applications, ring tones and other content.

More importantly, 6 percent used their device to receive coupons or discounts and 6 percent used their mobile device to purchase physical goods or non-mobile content or services. And you can be quite certain, those 6 percent figures will be 12 percent and 24 percent before you know it.

Today, successful mobile marketing requires a keen understanding of customer behaviours and attitudes. It comes down to the differences in how customers use their devices. Marketers that overlook customer differentiation may be wasting money and time and could be impairing their brand equity on an increasingly important channel.

The next dm Forum in Melbourne on 10 August will discuss which mobile technologies are having an impact now and those to watch out for in the near future. If you are not on the invitation list, please email Frank Chamberlin now. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

When you visit a website and click on a link to get information, do you expect the information to be free and with no registration requirement?

Almost always the answer is 'yes'.

Yet, for the marketer, giving away free content without getting a contact is not a great way to collect leads.

So what's the answer?

Maybe an option is to 'step' the offer. In other words, you can offer a teaser, such as an excerpt of a white paper. And for this, no registration is required.

Then, once your site visitors become intrigued by the free content, they'll be more willing to provide data for lead generation.

To get the full white paper, they have to register.

You can let them click right through to the excerpt from the white paper, but inside the white paper is a link to a landing page where they can go and get the full white paper. In that case, they do have to pay for it ... with name and email address.

A Forrester report released on 13 May 2010 pushes the thought that email marketers must integrate social media into their campaigns to stay relevant to consumers.

Forrester says that such integration will create new opportunities for email list growth, extend campaign reach, and harness social insights to inform targeting.

The process of integrating email with social media should be more than sporadic coordination of campaigns.

With prospects and customers interacting with companies and brands largely on their own terms, marketers will achieve better results through the integration of their communications and channels. That's the overarching message in the Forrester report that was produced by research executive, Shar VanBoskirk .

In her report, "How to Integrate Email with Social Media", VanBoskirk points to some significant benefits of tightly aligning email and social media, including better open, click-through and conversion rates; better email list growth; and increased campaign reach and influence through viral activity.

VanBoskirk advises marketers to adopt three specific tactics for integrating marketing efforts across email and social media:

1. Drive email subscriptions within your social media presence: place email registration boxes, or links to your email registration page, on your company blog, discussion forum or Facebook page. When you do this, people can sign up for this contact as they become more engaged with your brand.

2. Encourage subscribers to share email content: apparently, very recent Forrester research is finding that people are now beginning to share email content with friends via social sharing tools. The suggestion is that we should support this trend and benefit from it by not only placing "share with a friend" icons and links in your email, but at the top of your email layout.

3. Leverage social media content for more relevant emails: as with all campaigns, relevancy is what prompts engagement and response. Forrester urges marketers to increase the attractiveness of emails by incorporating user-generated content from social media presence.

For some years now, thoughtful marketers have been wondering about 'home brands'.

We all know that, traditionally, retailers have not been strong in marketing. But you couldn't help wondering about their strategy.

As the big two supermarkets in Australia have pursued a home brands policy and stated over and over that it's the way to go, anyone with any respect for brands has had to wonder.

It's hard to believe that proven and much-loved brands like Kraft or Kellogg's will actually disappear.

But we kept hearing the spin. It was all about reducing inventory, improving margins and, we are told, offering the consumer a 'better shopping experience' (their words not mine).

Surely the best brands will always maintain their market share? Maybe the emergence of home brands makes building your brand even more important.

And then there's the often forgotten question of the consumer. When the supermarket buyer in your household gets to the local store and finds the household's favourite brand of breakfast cereal or jam or pasta is not available, what's the next step?

The power of the big two supermarkets in Australia is such that, up to now at least, it seems that the consumer has been the last person considered.

Well, things may be changing.

The world's biggest retailer has just done something against the home brands trend.

Yes, Walmart has just restored some 300 items to the shelves after a wave of consumer complaints. (Of course, that's one area where Australian consumers are pathetic. We never complain. But in the US, consumers speak up. When you stand in a queue in the US, almost always you get invigorated when you hear a local sounding off, letting the attendant know what's wrong!)

Walmart was obviously listening, for the decision makers there began realising that the culling actually 'aggravated' consumers. And so what is it doing? Restocking hundreds of brands and products eliminated or curtailed over the last twelve months, and also taking a new look at other categories where it has streamlined choice.

Of course, apart from listening to the consumer, you can probably guess what brought this on. During the last quarter of 2009 Walmart's traffic declined and sales actually fell for the first time in the retailer's history.

Walmart relies on low prices for branded products and a large assortment to differentiate itself. Sad to say, it lacks individual shopper figures that would show how decisions about store range have impacted its most-valued customers.

In so many situations, the soft option is to win loyalty by discounting.

Of course, we all know that retailers have trained Australians to look always for discounts and now they have to live with that. But for the rest of us, social media is here to stay and waiting for us to sweep up the opportunity.

But it's certainly not a soft option. It's not straightforward for most of us.

Probably no one knows where social media will play out, but the important thing right now is to get into the space. You'll be a long way behind if you wait for a full answer to every question before you make your grand entrance into this all-embracing channel.

Relevance is the factor that drives customer loyalty today, and provides differentiation in a crowded market.

Many (maybe 'most') businesses are still struggling with how to engage customers in a social media-driven world. One viable solution is to use social media to change the marketing thought process. It can help you to think like a customer. For example, the growth of the internet has created a 'right now' society, so brands must recognise and respond to this change, both quickly and appropriately.

Customers demand easy access to information, whether you are Telstra or AXA or a boutique beer. When something is advertised, it's not acceptable to run out of stock or to have call centre representatives who don't know about it. The correct, updated information has to be instantly available through any channel that the prospect chooses to use.

This process is all about convenience and adapting to customer desires to enhance their experience. Brands that are able to successfully answer questions and target the consumer in their time of need will be best positioned for growth and will be the most likely to maintain a loyal following.

Social media offers brands an excellent opportunity to connect with customers directly to handle complaints, as customers are actually much more likely to express their dissatisfaction online than in a store.

When problems arise, why not Tweet your way back into the hearts of customers? Although brands strive for positive feedback and customer recommendations, they must also be equipped to handle the bad exposure.

Participating in an online discussion to show customers that the brand is accessible and listens to what they are saying can reap tremendous benefits. A simple validation that customer suggestions are appreciated and acknowledged will earn their respect and often their future business.

Adopting such tactics will also help to confirm that the brand really does aim to enhance the customer's experience.

In the olden days of direct marketing, maybe the 1980s, personalisation began and ended with putting a recipient's name at the top of the letter and sprinkling it throughout.

There's nothing wrong with that.

But today, personalisation must go much further. We have to take into consideration consumer behaviors and interests.The real key to personalisation is understanding your audience and providing relevant offers.

In fulfillment - whether it's an e-commerce transaction or a request for event registration or a white paper download - the ability to use fulfillment to tease out the next level of interest is possible and it's something we should all be aiming to do.

A truly personalised message contains relevant content for each individual recipient. Ideally, you take into account the recipient's past interaction behaviours - whether that be pages browsed on a website, white papers downloaded, items purchased.

You should be able to leverage what a person's online behaviour tells you. What the individual is interested in. Is it case studies, technical specifications, or something else?

Online behaviour gives you so much more insight than any sort of demographics. After all, it is based on actual movements.

Let's use a security software company as an example, where a recipient has registered for an event.

Instead of just saying, "OK, here's what you requested; call us if you'd like anything more", the fulfillment registration information should give the registrant more offers.

Take the case of a person who registers for an event on 'global security threats'. Here's what you could do:

You could check the person's web activity - maybe it indicates that he looked at information on how to encrypt the hard drive on a computer and also auditing employees for security.

Then, in fulfilment, you send this person the requested registration details. But you also send some teasers about the next webinars on encrypting hard drives and auditing employees for security.

In this way, you can tease out where that person is in the buying journey. Fulfillment becomes a vital link in the sales chain.

To effectively target customers, and connect with them successfully, you must gain in-depth customer knowledge. From that point, you then must use that knowledge appropriately across all channels.

1. See - and capture - the whole picture

Through your website analytics, you need to gain a holistic view of visitor performance. You need to track every touch point visitors use on your website -every click, conversion, abandonment, where they came from, where they went. All this information is available, so you need to be geared to use it.

As your store of data builds over time, you can better understand not only your online customer, but your customers in general.

You must be working towards turning one-way marketing initiatives into two-way dialogue.

Ideally, you create a customised experience for each customer. The benefit is that you can keep that customer coming back. Then you can devise relevant offers and personalised messages, and these should give you a higher likelihood of conversion.

2. Get deeper insights with time

Rome wasn't built in a day. You need to continuously capture visitor behaviour - what they click, what videos they watch, what content they view - and analyse that behavior over time.

If you link current behavior to previous sessions, you may be able to unearth how likely customers are to buy or engage with you.

3. Maintain a cross-channel view

Customers interact with brands online and offline. Incorporate offline data with online data to get a more accurate, well-rounded view of customers.

Where you combine data, it's easier to optimise the customer experience. For retailers, how does the average sale online compare with the average sale in store? Why are sales at a particular time heavier online and poorer in store? As you delve into these sorts of questions you are all the time learning about your customers.

4. Use key performance indicators to enhance paid search initiatives

Develop keywords and ads that meet your objectives. Most visitors don't convert with a single visit. Because of this, you need to track how paid search campaigns perform on their own and how they help drive other marketing goals.

5. Make every message compelling

Use customer data to place highly relevant product and service recommendations across your site and throughout email campaigns. Such tactics help you increase cross-sell opportunities and keep customers engaged.

Who are the heaviest users of loyalty programs?

The affluent, according to Rick Ferguson, editorial director of COLLOQUY, a provider of loyalty marketing services based in the US.

Ferguson defines 'affluent' as households earning $125,000 or more per year in disposable income.

But marketers can't serve up the same loyalty program features to this customer segment as they do to other program members and expect to keep their business.

So what will the affluent segment value in a loyalty program?

1. Offer value and experiences that they can't get anywhere else.

Affluent people tend to be financially savvy and they crave value.

Let's take the case of an affluent customer who enjoys golf and who buys some unrelated goods: a good offer may be "spend $200 with us during the next month, and we'll double your points and give you the opportunity to redeem those points for a three-day golfing holiday on the Gold Coast".

Such an offer can work on many different levels. It's an opportunity the customer can't get anywhere else, and it will be a memorable one. Plus, they'll seek to repeat the behaviour that created that experience.

Of course, not every offer has to end with a golfing holiday. It can be something as simple as a discount to a local restaurant. That can be equally powerful. It's just got to create a memorable experience, and it's got to be the right experience.

2. Demonstrate your loyalty, rather than trying to gain theirs.

A loyalty program, no matter how well it's run, is not going to make a customer more loyal to a company. The purpose of the program is to demonstrate the company's loyalty to a good customer. That's why extra value in the form of economic value can work so well.

3. Improve the emotional connection

Equally important is the emotional element. Your promotion must say to the customer, "We value you as a customer and as a person, so we're offering you some special pricing or a special event that will make you feel more emotionally connected to the company".

Usually, the combination of economic and emotional benefits is a very powerful and effective one.More than anything else, in the affluent sector, it's all about experiences. The idea is to use data to enable you to understand your customer and to enable you to make offers that are appealing.

For details about how the Action Words team can help you with all kinds of copywriting, please go to:
http://www.actionwords.com.au/home/

You will no doubt recognise some of these increasingly common buzzwords, sourced from Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services in the US:

Mobilenecking: The alarming tendency to have our necks tilted down or shifted sideways - ever glued to our mobile device. This anywhere, anyplace epidemic is increasingly evident in cars, airplanes and city streets.

Wiki Wart: A bad piece of news or an embarrassing brand episode that just won't go away in a brand's Wikipedia description (e.g., an activist protest or a social-media campaign that backfired). PR pros often give brands false hope of removing the warts, but relentless Wikipedia editors put them right back.

Faux Post: When you are talking to someone on the phone and he/she notices an unrelated tweet or Facebook status update from you showing up in real-time. Now that's embarrassing.

Conversational Divide: The huge gap between what marketers preach about social media "conversations" and the brand's actual customer service or call centre operations.

Buck Sucked: The condition that typically slaps you in the face when reading your credit card bill and you see dozens of "dollar" charges for music and "what the heck" iPhone or mobile apps. Expect much more of this as it gets easier and more convenient to pay for online content.

Runway Rebel: That person who keeps the "electronic device" going well past the airline warnings and prohibitions. We see them everywhere, and few of us are totally innocent.

Blog Dodger: Someone who has abandoned his or her blog for Twitter or some other lower-hassle social media substitute. This was big in 2009, and we'll likely see much more of it in 2010.

Please let us know about any other social media terms that you think all marketers should be aware of!

For details about the Action Words one-day workshop that will immediately improve your team's business writing, please go to http://www.actionwords.com.au/business-writing-course/

More and more organisations are investing in paid search marketing, or pay-per-click advertising, as it is more commonly referred to.

In Australia, because of the dominance of Google, paid search marketing is normally Google AdWords advertising.

The following tips may help you get better value for your investment.

1. Pre-qualify

In mainstream advertising, when you want to reach Chief Executives and you choose to advertise in the Financial Review, you are pre-qualifying.

Well, you have to do exactly the same online. And you mainly do it with key phrases and keywords. You can hardly spend too much time getting your keywords right and regularly reviewing them.

The keywords should make it clear exactly what people will find when they click through to your site. If they click on 'house and contents' you'd better make sure that's where you take them - and that when they get there, you explain your 'house and contents' policy. You may reduce the volume of clickthroughs, but that's what qualifying involves.

2. Focus on what the user needs

If you truly understand the buying steps that your prospects typically go through, you are more likely to know exactly what it is that they need.

What is most likely to influence purchase? If it's a complex sale with multiple buyers and influencers, then you need to provide the type of detail that buyers require.

Landing pages, in particular, should highlight exactly what buyers need.

3. Hot leads go cold quickly, so nurture them

In most B-to-B sales, getting leads to your site is just the beginning.

You need to have an agreed system in place for 'working' your leads, and that begins with an opt-in from the prospects for regular email.

How are you going to keep in touch? Is there something of value that you can offer on an ongoing basis?

If the lead has to be passed to your technical people or to sales, then there needs to be an efficient way of doing this that you stick to every time.

4. Track all conversion points

What's the conversion point that is usually most telling? Maybe it's the completion of an online form by a prospect.

It's important to know what this critical point is, but it's also important to monitor the impact of your paid search campaign on all your sales metrics.

Only then can you be sure of the impact your investment is having.

5. Detail tells the story

Search Engine Marketing is very much a detail business. If you are going to do it effectively over time, you need to have the time to continually check it.

Maybe it's identifying different ads that work, maybe it's advertising on different days or at different times. Whatever the case, there are savings to be made if you can identify exactly what is going on.

For example, if you uncover that a certain ad is producing most of your response and that other ads are doing nothing, then you can improve your results significantly by dropping the ones that don't work and putting all your budget into the one that does.

It seems that despite the GFC, consumers are still spending with companies and brands that have a clear social purpose.

A 2009 global study reported last month in The Wise Marketer (www.thewisemarketer.com) has some interesting stats about consumer attitudes.

Surveying 6000 people in 10 countries, the study particularly looked at whether consumers will swap brands where a brand supports a good cause. Countries surveyed include USA, UK, France, Italy, Japan, China, India and Brazil.

Some of the most interesting results were:

> 67% of consumers say they would switch brands if another brand of similar quality supported a good cause.
> 83% of consumers are willing to change their consumption habits if it can help make the world a better place to live in.
> 70% said they would prefer to live in an 'eco-friendly house' rather than a 'big house'.
> 69% of consumers would rather use a brand that supports the livelihood of local producers than a designer brand.
> 71% think brands and companies spend too much on advertising and marketing and should put more into good causes.
> 64% would recommend a brand that supports a good cause, up from 52% in 2008.
> 64% expect all brands to support a good cause.
63% are looking toward brands and companies to make it easier for them to make a difference in the world.

With the survey covering so many countries, the challenge for us is to assess how relevant these figures are for Australia in general, and for our own specific target audiences in particular.