Recently many clients, business colleagues and friends have been asking my opinion on social marketing and its roll in today’s business environment. Is it a fad or trend? Do you think my company should engage in social marketing? What are the first steps? Facebook or Twitter? Blog or bulletin board?

Social marketing has been around since the early 1970’s but has only become very mainstream in the past decade. The first thing to understand is, what is social marketing? It takes many forms, but can be most easily be described as “interaction between an audience or community with a common interest.” Of course, this is a very simplified definition of a very complex marketing concept.

Social marketing is made up of bits and pieces of several different disciplines, such as education, marketing/advertising, anthropology and social psychology. The benefits of social marketing are more directly associated with the individual or society than the marketer’s organization. Social marketing is most effective at sustaining socially beneficial behavioral change, increase program use and customer interaction of an existing service or product.
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The environment for email marketing is again changing to help alleviate the amount of SPAM being delivered to your mailbox. But as a marketer, the complexities in getting your message delivered have become more challenging. Not only must you meet the CAN-SPAM Act, but also new compliance rules being set-up by anti-spam organizations which monitor spammers.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued the following statements.
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them. A “transactional or relationship message” – email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship – may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.

It is important as marketers that we don’t just rely on being CAN-SPAM compliant as the sole measure of whether a list is valid and compliant. We want to make sure that your brand is protected from being labeled as a sender of unsolicited commercial email. The Act defines consent as the recipient expressly consenting to receive an email message, either in response to a clear and conspicuous request for such consent or at the recipient’s own initiative. There is obviously a difference between what is allowed under the law and best practices.

The term ‘‘transactional or relationship message’’ means an electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is to facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient has previously agreed to enter into with the sender. The anti-spam organizations are very tough on the practice of using lists where the registration does not provides clear and conspicuous notice of the intent to add them to a mailing list. Not only that, but sending a campaign without a confirmed opt in will almost always result in a very high complaint, abuse, and bounce rate.

At Creative Solved, we continue to strive to make sure your email deployments meet the CAN-SPAM Act. We also educate our clients on best practices in the generation of their distribution lists. It is the combination understanding compliance and CAN-SPAM which allow us to continue providing successful email campaigns for our clients.

One of the first areas companies cut budgets during down times is marketing. Unfortunately, while this might be an easier cut to make, it negatively positions your company in the future, as you are not promoting and positioning your company, or products and services during this period. Research shows companies that spend a steady amount over the years, even in a down economy, will enjoy very consistent and successful lead generation, qualification and closing sales as a consequence.

Marketing dollars spent during a down economy are far more powerful than similar dollars spent during good times, because each dollar represents a greater percentage of the overall marketing expenditure in your industry. While other companies drastically cut their expenditures, your consistency means that you stand out more in the minds of your target audiences. While other companies cut their advertising budgets, you continue to show relevance in you particular market. This projects strength and stability in a way that supports any brand strategy. It provides valuable differentiation that will contribute to increasing sales more rapidly in the short term, and toward building your long-term branding success.

At Creative Solved, we are offering our clients cost effective methods of marketing, enabling them to stay relevant and properly positioned during this economic downturn. Tools such as email, web and social marketing have all become much more prevalent, cost effective and measurable allowing you to carefully spend and track you marketing dollars.