How to repurpose content effectively for new media...

Repurposing content is a great way to engage your prospects and customers using newer interactive media. But there are a number of considerations to make. Here are three biggies:

1. Consider the medium... is it conducive to what you're repurposing?
   In other words, don't hire a voice talent to read a 20-page white paper and slap it up on your website as a 45 minute podcast. Consider breaking it up into a podcast series of 10-15 minute sound bytes.
   
   
2. Think about your integrated marketing objective... where does it make sense to repurpose and for what objective? Don't simply stream your 30-second television spot from your website. TV is passive (well... more or less when you consider TiVo). People go to websites to interact. Why not make your TV spot interactive? Give your visitors options within the spot to download content such as a white paper or sign up for a webinar.
   
   
3. Remember to think integrated and contextual. Don't use categories that make it easier for you to organize content on your website, but aren't seamless for your visitors. For example, don't create one big folder for podcasts, another for video and so on. Serve the content within the appropriate context. For example, a visitor who's interested in network security isn't going to search through the equivalent of an electronic pile of white papers to find the one on network security. Instead, deliver the white paper option while your visitor is browsing the network security section of your website.

Repurposing is a great way to get more mileage from your content. You may even attract additional audiences as a result of having content in other media. Some visitors prefer the download and listen method, while others like to download and read. At the risk of sounding cliche... "different strokes for different folks." As long as they're connecting with your brand, it's all good!

Just when you thought you had web metrics all figured out...

Along comes “engagement.”

It’s true… I learned about it at a recent BtoB Magazine
netmarketing breakfast. And then a week later, it was mentioned at an InfoWorld breakfast.

Though still a little vague, here’s my take on it.

“Engagement” refers to the productivity of visitor’s time on your website plus the ability to create a two-way dialog with the visitor.

It’s not just about the number of page views and average length of stay. Engagement is about how well you design the visitor experience --
guiding them through relevant, logical paths to get the information they seek. It’s also about providing ways for visitors to interact on your website.

For example... Did visitors land where you wanted them to land? Did they click where you wanted them to click? Were they able to dialog with you via blog or interactive media presentation? Were they able to obtain content in a way that suits them (i.e. download to an MP3 player/phone/pda or view from their desktops). Could visitors obtain a written transcript of the audio/video content? Could visitors readily share content with others?

Today’s websites have much more interactivity and many more options for delivering content to a wide range of visitors thanks to Web 2.0. Savvy marketers will have to integrate relevant content in ways that satisfy the specific needs of each visitor. That includes integrating new and evolving media such as podcasts, blogs, rich media and yes, even social marketing.

The result is greater brand affinity and more business.
That’s what engagement is all about!

Here’s a great example of how IBM is using and integrated marketing campaign, including rich media, to engage its visitors… http://www-306.ibm.com/software/info/takebackcontrol/us/index.jsp?S_CMP=tbc_tvbanner1%20

"Sticky" websites are back!

Remember the term sticky. Sticky was a good thing... the longer visitors stayed on your website the better -- better for branding, better for gaining more conversions and a better gauge of a visitor's interest in your products and services.

Now sticky means integrating your content to make it more efficient and logical for visitors to find what they're looking for. A sticky website, by today's standards, is sticky because it's integrated. Today's sticky websites have all the Web 2.0 interactive and collaborative features that make a website more engaging, which translates to sticky.

• Relevant content
• Content that's easy and logical to find
• "Smart" content that's delivered based on the visitor's input
• Content that's available in the media that visitors prefer including downloadable white papers, podcasts with transcripts, videocasts, blogs, etc.

Remember... sticky is not about the length of time each visitor stays, but it's about their ability to get what their looking for easily and efficiently, usually in less time.

My e-marketing colleague, Paul Dunay (Buzz Marketing for Technology Blog), says,

"If it's integrated, it's good; but if it's sticky and
integrated, it's even better."

Big mistake on landing pages... Are you making it too?

Nothing kills conversion rates faster than a navigation bar on your landing page. What’s worse than a navigation bar? No landing page at all… sending click thrus to your home page!

Think of it this way. Offering visitors too many options is like the difference between a local and an express train. A landing page is the express train and takes you directly where you want to go, quickly and easily... no stops.

Well, no landing page is like the local train. It, too, will take you where you want to go, but not without several stops. And what happens when you get off on one of those stops ? You're likely not to continue to your final destination.

The idea behind the landing page is to provide specific content based on a specific action -- usually completing a form. When you give visitors more than a "submit" button, you're shooting yourself in the foot... not to mention blowing a huge hole in your conversion rate.

And above all, avoid sending visitors to a generic web page expecting them to find the special offer that inspired them to click thru to your site in the first place. Use a landing page that reiterates the offer and its benefits. Plus make the form easy to access -- above the fold -- and easy to complete.

One final note... your creative and copy should be similar to the email, mailer or banner that drove visitors to the landing page. Message and creative continuity from input to output is a good way to boost conversion.

Try it... just these few simple changes can boost your campaign's conversion rates.

New Credo for Direct Marketers...

The tried and true conventional direct marketer's credo, "recency, frequency and monetary value" has all but given way to the new direct and interactive marketers credo...

"recency, frequency and relevance"-- not to mention permission.

Thanks to technology, we can target our markets more effectively than ever before. Plus, more robust CRM applications allow us to track where prospects are in the buying cycle. So learn how to cultivate these prospects into customers. Send relevant messages based on content and timing.

Content-relevant messages focus on the product or service in which the prospect expressed interest. Subsequent mailers and offers should be timed based on the length of the buying cycle. A longer buying cycle may require additional messages timed further apart. On the other hand, a shorter buying cycle will require more frequency, but with relevancy and not simply an "are you ready to buy yet" message.