New Cross Media Book from Schooner Press

Schooner Press is proud to announce the publication of Cross Media Marketing 101, The Concise Guide to Surviving in the C-Suite by James D Michelson.

Cross Media Marketing 101 is the perfect guide for executives and managers looking to be sure that they have considered the major challenges facing them as traditional marketing methods are eclipsed and even supplanted by new channels.  Taking a completely agnostic approach to the marketing mix, the author offers practical insight into the changing marketing world and how marketing leaders can beat the odds. Order now at https://www.createspace.com/3537914

“This book is a must read for any marketing leader looking to be sure they have a thorough grasp on the current marketing landscape.” Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler

About the Author
James Michelson is an internationally recognized thought leader on all aspects of cross media. He has extensive international experience in the development of advanced cross media and one to one (1:1) marketing campaigns in a variety of verticals. James has developed and executed industry recognized cross media marketing strategies for such firms as Caterpillar, Marriott, Hartford Insurance, California Closets, and many more. Visit his personal site at http://www.jmichelson.com for more information.

James Michelson and VDP Web present PODi Webinar on Cross Media

VDP Web® is proud to announce a new session at the 2011 PODi AppFoprum  featuring James Michelson from JFM Concepts.  James Michelson’s presentation will feature successful cross channel marketing campaigns that were launched on tight client budgets from industry leading commercial printers. These campaigns incorporate direct mail, email, and other channels for events, lead generation, and direct sales.  Additionally, coordination with social media and other direct sales efforts will be included as part of the overall marketing strategy.

Key Takeaways include practical ways to ease clients into cross-media by leveraging their existing efforts, how to design effective cross-media campaigns using all the latest channels, how adding tracking and accountability to your programs can make all the difference, and the value of 'closing the loop' on real world integrated campaigns.

Cross Media Audit - Brought to you by VDP Web

Learn right from the experts. Increase your revenue.

Start the new year off right with a cross media audit from the experts at JFM Concepts, makers of the industry leading VDP Web integrated marketing platform. The audit is a critical planning and operational tool for small to medium sized businesses or business units of large firms. Without support from other departments, including IT, marketers can discover how their current efforts are part of the overall cross media marketing mix and how those channels can work better together to expand reach without increasing budget.

To discuss the options available, please call Josh at 800-735-2578 or submit the opt in form on http://www.audit.vdpconcepts.com for more information

From the Corner Office – “What’s coming for 2011 & VDP Web?”

2011 promises to bring continuing change at a pace that shows no sign of slowing.  The economic and political landscape continues to be remade and uncertainty abounds.  Political considerations include corporate and personal tax insecurity, “Do Not Track” legislation on the web and a floundering Postal Service struggling with relevancy. A new Congress suddenly bent with the most populist agenda in recent memory is about to convene.  How will marketers react?

Here is how we see the coming year.  There will be continuing pressure on justifying the value of print and traditional media channels while at the same time a vague call for change and more social media.  The trend for firms of all sizes to hoard cash and maintain a war chest for contingencies will continue while the tax and inflationary issues sort themselves out.  At the same time, industry consolidation will increase as investors pressure firms to show growth despite the environment and that war chest of cash starts burning holes in pockets.

VDP Web will continue to focus on the providing the best platform to handle any direction the market takes.  Whatever the next big thing is, regardless of what it is, VDP Web is built on a unique provider model to adapt.  In 2010 the buzz was all about QR Codes and if I knew what the 2011 and 2012 buzz would be I would be sitting on a beach in Maui rather than contemplating the first winter snow. 

Our basic principles remain unaltered.  VDP Web will add features that provide value and ease of use across multiple channels.  We have added powerful and elegantly simple tools for the inline production of QR Codes, JQuery and JavaScript for powerful  variable pages and “if-then” functionality, and much more.  Whatever comes, we’re ready.

The entire team at JFM is looking forward to working with you, your teams, your clients and your stakeholders in 2011 and beyond.

Best Wishes – James Michelson

VDP Web & Social Media – JavaScript and JQuery

By Eleanor Heins

The marketer’s challenge is to be able to distribute information across multiple channels as widely as possible with minimal effort.  A natural next step would be the ability to add social media functionality to landing pages.  We now offer the ability to “like” and “publish” landing pages and “retweet” the link for your friends to receive the offer. 

This can potentially expand your distribution methods many times over.   Allowing people to send an offer through their own channels will cost less for you, and grow your list exponentially with no direct effort on your part.

For a sample of this in action, look for this ability on our holiday mailing, coming soon.  Not on the mail list?  Click here.

How is it done?  JavaScript, JQuery and HTML

I’ve heard of Javascript. What is it again?
Definition: JavaScript and is an object oriented scripting language that emphasizes interaction between JavaScript and HTML. It simplifies the creation of animations, communications to server requests, document transversing and event handling. JQuery is the most popular JavaScript library used.

Great. What does that mean?
Implementing JavaScript/JQuery takes a rudimentary knowledge of html and a few conditional statements, such as “if-then” statements. This method allows users to create conditional questions and display variable content with the same functionality used to make a slick accordion menu or an image slideshow. With Javascript/JQuery, it is very easy to show/hide different sets of content based on information in the data file. In this manner one can custom tailor the content on the landing page for each prospect by changing text, images, movies, and even surveys. The options are endless.

Why not just use a form to create the conditions?
VDP Web decided to open our platform up to Javascript/JQuery because it gives us a single solution for nearly limitless functions. Conditional questions, variable content, animations and visual effects are all possible, keeping the control of scope in our clients hands. Complicated rules based forms can be limited in scope and can require quite a bit of extra training for an end result that is centered around a single function and does not make use of anyone’s existing skill set. We also knew that a large portion of our clients already had staff in house that either knew enough JavaScript to work with the system or were in the position to learn. JavaScript and its many reference libraries such as JQuery are either already known – or really, really easily learned – by pretty much every web designer out there. 

It was time to put the creativity back into the functionality instead of relying on a form that tells you what you can and can’t do with your landing page.

Enhanced QR Code Generation Available in VDP Web

JFM Concepts has just announced additional QR Code functionality to further enhance its industry leading VDP Web® cross media marketing suite.  The creation and implementation of QR Codes, with a seamless integration into reporting, allows immediate and easy coordination of Personalized URLs (PURLs), SMS-Text, Unique 800#s, static landing pages and more.  A complete integration of response mechanisms avoids data silos and fragmented work environments that isolate data and complicate coordination.

 

According to John Fager, JFM Concepts’s Chief Technology Officer, “The new print-ready QR Code functionality in VDP Web allows one-click generation of an infinite number of QR images that are automatically tied into reporting without the need for an additional platform.  The export database is formatted for easy implementation to any print driver.”

 

Since 2004, JFM Concepts (http://www.jfmconcepts.com) has developed and executed national cross media marketing strategies for direct clients, traditional agencies and commercial printers. Campaigns include broadcast and print media, direct mail, SMS-text, email, PURLs (personal URLs) and variable data landing pages with surveys and opt-ins.

Cross Media Automation – Not for the Faint of Heart

By Joshua Driver

Recently, I was on the phone with a valued client and we discussed the latest automated technologies for cross media integration.  There are numerous platforms that can execute messages across various channels, automatically, but who is really doing this right?

With the economy and buyer behavior being as predictable as Lindsey Lohan’s rehab calendar, marketers are looking for ways to automate targeted messages over direct mail, email, social media, and more.  This can help reduce long term internal resources, but there is a significant upfront investment: You have to prep your data, beef up your content and implement a manageable segmentation and rules strategy.

A male colleague of mine received a postcard that proudly proclaimed, “For Women Only.”  The piece was urging him to try out the latest in feminine products.  There is no short cut for keeping your data clean and accurate, for targeting appropriate prospects and for creating good content.  If your content and data isn’t up to a certain level, automation will not benefit your organization.  If you send blatantly inappropriate messages, it will damage an existing relationship.

Data has a shelf-life.  Things change.  People change.  Often what our internal database tells us about a customer may not be entirely accurate.  It takes a savvy marketer to deliver the right message at the right time.  Marketing automation can certainly increase productivity and returns, but with challenges involving technical knowhow, data accuracy and content relevance, it falls short of being truly effective for most organizations.

Much like goal setting, you must set initiatives for the short, medium and long term.  It is imperative that you are continuously reviewing the data, and how your technology is segmenting this.  Take the time to gather survey responses and reevaluate future campaigns.  Be prepared for content changes and rule revisions throughout the year.

Take Away:
Before you jump on the automated marketing technology band wagon, be sure to evaluate the premium cost of not only the solution but also the heavy internal lifting that will be required to get your strategy, data, content and touch point rules in place.

Software Costs driven up by sponsorships? You bet they are...

Is a software provider you are considering in bed with every trade show and industry media outlet on the planet?  Do their paid search words cover the internet in all sorts of odd places?  Are they a Platinum Sponsor of VDP SnoozeFest 2010 and Cross Media Boondoggle 2011 in fabulous Maui?  If so, consider for a moment the high cost of sponsoring and exhibiting at these events. 

Who is really paying for all this?  The massive marketing expenses that these events and sponsorships entail are simply built into the cost of the product.  As we approach another large industry tradeshow, I have to stop and ask myself about the costs incurred and the value generated for the end user.

We believe that these funds should be spent on customer service and product development, not on dunnage, airfare, hotels and hefty sponsorship fees. Even firms lavished with venture capital don't have have unlimited resources.  Exhibiting at one major show buys a lot of customer service hours.  Which would you rather have – a demo by a hired "host" on a $4000 rented plasma TV or domestic phone support available on demand with quick turnaround on custom projects?

So the next time you are wandering through the aisles of flashing lights and cheesy contests and giveaways, ask yourself a few questions.

1. Should a software as a service firm really need a booth and high pressure sales people to educate prospects?

2. Is there anything going on at this software booth that my entire team couldn’t better appreciate during a webinar?

3. And Finally, who’s Paying for all this?

The answers are pretty clear.

New VDP Web Feature

JFM Concepts has rolled out a powerful new feature for the industry leading VDP Web cross media suite.  Users can now control privileges and account access on a very granular level.  This functionality allows either internal or third party users to be given only the permissions they need to specific parts of the utility.

For example, if you wanted to give access to a designer or data person, you can limit the areas that they can see to their specific task.  The following configuration would give access to a designer to manage content for web and email, but nothing else:

For more information, please call us at 800-735-2578.

"James Michelson of VDP Web talks about measuring ROI from specific marketing channels" by What They Think

After a presentation at PODi's 2010 AppForum, James Michelson was interviewed a second time by What They Think. Check out the video here:

James Michelson of VDP Web talks about measuring ROI from specific marketing channels

Transcript:

WhatTheyThink Video - Published on July 27, 2010

 

This is James Michelson from VDP Web, the Principal there.  One of the things we’ve had the most interest in during the AP Forum is how, as a commercial printer, do we really look at and how do I get into the sales process.  What are the challenges that become and what’s preventing our customers from really getting involved in cross media, in Pearls, in leading pages, in variable data?

Well, we found that in a lot of the case studies that are presented, there are all these different parties involved.  You have information systems and information technology and the agencies and all these other people that come together to pull that.  Well, the challenge is, how do I sell that group?  And would it be better for my sales process and my bottom line if I could look at it and go to one person and make a decision and that one person who makes a decision I can provide all the different services that they need?
 

Now, if we have access to data from IT, great.  If we can get creative from their Marketing Department or their agency, terrific.  But as the printer, if you can say to one decision maker, “Hey, I can take care of all of this for you, we’ll handle the process from soup to nuts…” then you can make it work.  One example is from a printed static piece, Harrah’s was launching a new – and we figured we were in Vegas; this is probably a good example.  We’re launching a new casino vote in Chicago, and what we’d like to do is we’re going to print these flyered pieces.  Terrific.  Well, let’s put on a test-to-win and a unique 800 number, and a generic landing page.  So, from one sales process, by adding those three collection mechanisms, the printer was then able to launch follow on direct mail campaigns, follow on collateral campaigns so they’ve got multiple runs of ink on paper from one print sale.
 

The other thing that does is now, that commercial printer is in charge of the data stream.  All that data is collected is sitting at that commercial printer’s location and they have control of the marketing process.