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By definition, audio marketing refers to marketing initiatives where the output is audio content, versus written or visual content. While companies have been using audio marketing effectively for decades, it’s just now starting to play a key role in businesses’ marketing strategies. If you’ve been thinking about getting started with audio marketing or thinking about going all-in, right now is a great time to take advantage of all the different ways audio can play a role in your marketing. What Categories Are Included in Audio Marketing? There are a number of different categories under the audio marketing umbrella. Some of the most popular include: Podcasts Podcast advertising Radio Radio advertising Voice search via Google Alexa skills Voice-enabled advertising How to Create an Audio Marketing Strategy There are a number of different ways you can implement audio marketing into your overall marketing strategy. Here’s how you can create an audio marketing strategy. What’s your goal using audio marketing? You always want to set goals for your marketing initiatives, so you need to think about how audio marketing can help feed the growth of your business. You can use audio marketing for: Branding and awareness A new lead-generation channel To sell products and services To increase voice SEO keywords and rankings Creating Content for Your Audio Campaigns One of the biggest challenges we see with companies is their ability or inability to create consistent content for their audience. Everything moves fast and if you’re not creating content regularly, it’s going to be a huge disadvantage for your business. If you don’t have the budget or resources to create consistent content, you better make sure every piece of content you do produce is leveraged to your best ability. If you’re producing content assets or blogs, you can use those for your audio marketing. You can turn those blogs into podcasts — that is one way to maximize the content you already have published. If you have 40 blogs published, you can now take those blogs and create 40 podcasts. The same can be true for your emails: those can also be turned into audio assets. With the popularity of podcasts showing no sign of slowing down, there’s likely an audience there you haven’t tapped into yet. Another big benefit of having a podcast is the fact that you can use podcast ads. Podcast advertising can help you get a 30-second ad in front of your target audience. Podcast ads are often cheaper than other advertising options, so you can get more bang for your buck. A 30-second ad can range from $20-$30 CPM (cost-per-thousand). How to Get Started With Podcasts If you want to learn how to get started with podcasts, the process is relatively simple. (1) SEO and Keyword Research Your first order of business is getting familiar with SEO (search engine optimization). While most business owners are now aware of what SEO is, few know how to get results from their SEO. No matter if you’re doing SEO for your blogs or SEO for your podcasts, the first step is keyword research. You can use SEO software such as Ahrefs to evaluate keywords and keyphrases. Now, if you sell a product, your keywords need to relate to the product. If you sell a service, your keywords need to relate to the services you offer. You’ll want to make a list of keywords and pay attention to the amount of searches that keyword gets every month. Keyword search volume will give you an idea of how popular the keyword is. You’ll also want to research topics that are being talked about a lot, you can go to Google trends to see those topics. If you’re going to get serious about your podcast, subscriber growth should be a main focus for you. You need to think about what your perfect subscribers listen to. It can take some trial and error to get this dialed in, so make sure you’re talking to your subscribers and getting feedback from them on the topics they want to listen to. (2) Staying Organized and Focused Making sure your podcast runs efficiently can be a challenge if you’re not organized. You’ll want to make sure you create an outline for: Structure of your podcast Topics and content Calendar for publishing podcast episodes Podcast episode content The key is staying organized and publishing your podcast on a set schedule. Schedules are vital to growing podcast subscribers, so you want to set specific times so subscribers know when new content will be released. Remember how we told you to create podcasts from your blogs? Great news: once you have a podcast published, you can create blogs out of your podcast episodes. (3) Recording Your Podcast There will be specific podcast equipment you’re going to need to produce a quality show. You’re going to need to invest in: For speaking: a microphone with a USB or XLR output For recording: a computer or smart phone For music: A single-track license or a license subscription For editing: Use a digital audio workstation (DAW) like Audacity A common question we get all the time: How long should my podcast be? It all depends on the subject matter. Most podcast episodes are generally 20-30 minutes long. In the beginning, that is usually a good starting point to target. As your audience and popularity grow, you can experiment with longer podcast shows. Make sure you're communicating with your subscribers. You can ask them how long they prefer the podcast to be. That feedback loop is vital to your success, so make sure your podcast becomes a community. How Can I Distribute My Podcast? When it comes to distributing your podcast, there are a number of great platforms out there that can help you do just that. Platforms like Anchor.fm make it simple to upload your podcast audio and distribute it to popular streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more. Anchor also provides some basic analytics about your listener audience. If you’re more focused on embedding your episodes on your website and not as concerned with distribution, you can use an audio-hosting platform like SoundCloud that will help you meet that goal. You can also utilize YouTube for embeds and community. We’d also recommend reaching out to other podcasters and becoming friends with them. Don’t do it just for the relationship, be honest with yourself and reach out to like minds. These relationships can help both parties grow their podcasts, as well as bring around additional opportunities to grow your brand and business.

Ushering in six more weeks of shopping deals to be had. By Gina Pomponi Black Friday shopping has been in vogue since the 1970s. Who hasn’t woken up at an ungodly hour to get the best deals on Black Friday? The tradition has become a staple in American culture. Retailers advertise their best deals of the season and lure holiday shoppers with “door busters” like a $200 big-screen TV or the toy of the season at the lowest price. With Thanksgiving week comes an abundance of ads touting storewide savings and early bird specials to drive sales … but it’s not just retail foot traffic this year. As with most things in 2020, Black Friday experienced a major paradigm shift on both the consumer and advertiser front. Due to COVID-19, consumers of all ages were forced to shop much differently, moving from brick-and-mortar to purchasing most of their goods online. This created a year-over-year increase in e-commerce sales of more than 30 percent, with 2020 online sales matching those not previously projected until at least 2022. Last year’s consumer buying behavior shift seems as though it’s here to stay. This has forced many previously traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to rapidly step up their ability to meet these demands. In addition to ramping up direct sales capabilities, advertisers are learning to dip their toes in the direct-to-consumer marketing arena. Perhaps one of the biggest changes in 2020 was the length of Black Friday sales events. Best Buy kicked off its holiday TV campaign in late October, touting that Black Friday deals were extended through all of November. Several retailers followed suit, with month-long sales events — many including different weekly sales through to the Christmas holiday. Another big change was big retailers, such as Walmart, Target, and Kohls, closing on Thanksgiving Day last year for the first time in many years. Being in the advertising industry, I always spend some time over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend watching TV commercials (I’m probably the only person that does this!). Last year, there was a big change in commercials and messaging to support a very different “online” Black Friday. As expected, TV retail advertising was in full force all weekend with all the usual suspects. However, the commercial messaging was much more tailored to accommodate and speak directly to the consumer. Even major brands shifted toward direct-to consumer advertising. For example, the M&M’s Santa Claus ad included a URL for consumers to shop direct. Retailers like Kohls, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and others offered both online shopping and curbside pickup as alternatives in their commercials. Kay’s Jewelers’ TV spot provided consumers with three shopping options: online, virtual consultant, and in store. These companies are finally realizing that they need to engage directly with the consumer, which is what I have been doing for more than 30 years. I predict major retailers will continue to take a direct-to-consumer approach for Black Friday advertising in 2021 — and in years to come. Should we really continue to call it “Black Friday”? Perhaps “Black November” is a more accurate descriptor. Everyone knows the official date of Black Friday as the day after Thanksgiving. Not unlike last year, big retailers started their sales as early as October. These sales will not be limited to in-store purchases only. Online sales will lead the charge for holiday retail revenue. Or maybe I should say Amazon will lead the charge — with everyone else trying to catch up. All of this is going to make Black Friday's online deals even more important. This year, you'll have a better chance of finding Black Friday big-screen TV deals in the comfort of your own home rather than waiting in line outside of a physical store at 4 a.m. Happy shopping! Gina Pomponi is president and COO of direct marketing and advertising agency Bluewater Media. She can be reached via email at gina@bluewater.tv.

PDMI member PremiumMedia360 (a panelist during the PDMI's Fall Seminar Series event on Sept. 21) presents an on-demand webinar on how using the right automation can drive organic growth for direct response agencies. In this webinar, hear how direct response agency Lead Surge uses data automation to refocus time, work strategically, and build business more efficiently. This exclusive fireside chat originally aired in August, and features Kirsty Middlemiss, media operations director at Lead Surge, and Michelle Clayton, chief client officer at PremiumMedia360. Get actionable insights on: Knowing when it’s time to automate more of your agency data workflow Using automation to level-up your team’s strategic work Key assets to seek in an automation partner Register here to view this on-demand webinar now!

How brands can create interactive and measurable experiences across screens. By Jim Norton COVID-19 has changed every real-life experience, from how and what we buy, how and where we work, and how we interact with other people and with the brands we love. It’s also changed how we view QR codes. QR codes have been around for more than 25 years, but the pandemic has driven adoption of QR codes as a way to instantly connect with a brand or business directly from your phone’s camera. Creating direct and instant connections that connect the real world to the digital world has been top of mind for brands looking to stay competitive on an ever-changing consumer landscape. This is especially true for TV providers and advertisers, who have been trapped by the confines of the $250 billion TV landscape. Adding QR codes to screens can be one of the most effective ways to bridge that gap. But it’s not enough to just slap a generic QR code on a screen. That’s why Flowcode built FlowcodeTV, the only QR platform designed for TV, connected TV (CTV), and digital video. We firmly believe design matters and the data tells us so as well. Flowcodes outperform QR codes on TV by double digits, and we have seen scan rates that are 200 percent higher than average digital click-through-rates! FlowcodeTV solves the last touch problem of giving Google all the credit for any lift in traffic from TV. Offline experiences don’t just drive brand awareness. They also have the power to drive conversions — whether that’s starting a conversation, downloading an app, entering a contest, or making a purchase. Earlier this year, we partnered with Turner Sports for Fan Duel’s Over/Under contest on TNT. The Flowcode experience drove 60 percent of the traffic to the contest and accounted for 53 percent of registrations during regular season and 45 percent of traffic during playoffs. Flowcode also contributed to 50 percent of their total free-to-play new registrations YTD. In an era of ever-changing consumer behaviors and constant competitive disruption, brands must continually find new ways to connect with consumers in order to thrive and grow. Flowcode equips today’s brands with the tools and technology to create interactive consumer experiences that connect the real world to the digital world, instantly and magically. Jim Norton is chief revenue officer of Flowcode. He can be reached via email at jim@flowcode.com.

By Anthony Ciavatta One of most common areas of feedback from focus groups watching an infomercial often centers on their impression that the testimonials are not believable and authentic. It’s not the fault of the testimonials. The problem comes from the fact that they were asked the wrong questions in the wrong way. What are the two most effective ways to conduct a successful testimonial interview? If time permits, a good first step involves splitting the interview into two parts. Shoot a sit-down interview that focuses on the emotion of using the product. Then shoot an interview that focuses on the product features and benefits while the testimonial uses the product. This won’t work for all products or services. But when it does, it’s a powerful tool. The second and more important step happens when you’re conducting the sit-down interview. Get the basic questions out of the way first. Then, once your testimonial feels more comfortable, start asking questions that evoke an emotion. The best way to make that happen is with a technique not ordinarily associated with direct response television — method acting. Yes — think James Dean or Marlon Brando — method acting. The principles of method acting can produce amazing results while interviewing testimonials. They can work equally as well, if not even better, while directing on-camera or voiceover talent. One of the biggest mistakes a director can make is to tell a testimonial to be any particular way: be more energetic, be happier, be more excited. That kind of direction guarantees a fake, stilted performance or response because the testimonial is forced to be something they’re not. Fake begets fake. (As a reference, acting isn’t faking. Acting is reacting authentically.) To make a response more authentic, the well-trained director will say things like, “Make your fellow actor feel your pain.” Or he or she may say, “Share the joy you feel.” Asking someone to share an emotion opens the response to limitless authentic, believable possibilities. That’s because they can recall an emotion they’ve experienced (it’s called sense memory). It’s the difference between trying to “be” something, versus sharing an authentic emotion. Try it yourself. Close your eyes and imagine you’re biting into a juicy lemon. Did your mouth just water? That’s sense memory, a foundation of method acting. It’s what you want to inspire your testimonials to use during their interview. When you’re not biting into lemons, the difference may be subtle. But it’s enough of a difference to transform your testimonials from fake and inauthentic to real and impactful. As you may know, method acting grew famous from work during the 1950s at The Actor’s Studio in New York. Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and Paul Newman are among the most iconic method actors. If you understand how it works, you can instantly turn your testimonials into method actors. The truly remarkable and powerful aspect of this process is that a testimonial doesn’t need to know anything about method acting for it to produce meaningful results. When done right, this directing method produces magical results. Here is an example of how things may go with a testimonial. You ask them how and why they like a particular product. They give a good answer, but it’s flat. They use the right words — but they lack the emotion required to make the testimonial truly authentic and impactful. To raise the response to the next level, follow up with something like, “Great answer. Now I want you to make me feel your happiness and enthusiasm about the product. Think about what excites you and share that excitement with me.” If done right, the difference will be astounding. The results will be believable because the response emanates from a real emotion. The words won’t be generated in response to a question. They will come from the testimonial’s own emotional memory. Even asking a question like, “Does that make you happy?” will not produce the same results as saying, “Share, with the people who will watch this, how happy you are about the product.” Never say things like, “Be happier,” or “Give it more energy,” or anything else people think a director is supposed to say. Everyone can express a feeling. So, if you say, “Share your enthusiasm with the people watching this,” a person naturally lets out what they have inside. That’s where the energy comes from — not from trying to be energetic. See the difference? You’re not asking a testimonial to share what they think. You’re asking them to share how they feel. That’s the secret to unlocking great testimonials with method acting. Training to work with the principles of method acting is a long and in-depth process. It’s one of those things you just have to keep on doing until finally it clicks. This article is an oversimplification. But once you have a working knowledge of how it can influence a testimonial, it’s transformative. Average becomes really good. Good becomes great. And inauthentic becomes organically real. Most importantly, your infomercial becomes more effective. That’s how the principles behind method acting offer a very powerful tool for creating highly effective direct response television. If done right, it’s as close to magic as you’ll ever experience on a shoot. Anthony Ciavatta is creative director at Creative Filmworks Inc. He can be reached at 949-833-2799 or via email at anthony@creativefilmworks.com.

A special report produced by PDMI member company LeadsRx and Demand Gen Report examines what is working in modern marketing analytics, including new metrics and predictive tools and datasets for marketers to ensure accurate lead investment through attribution. “The start of the pandemic was the first time that analytics has not been viewed as a nice to have, but now as a necessity,” says AJ Brown, co-founder and CEO of marketing attribution platform LeadsRx, in an interview for the report. “Marketers are really relying on external third-party validation of their work. And the ability to be impartial with analytics is what’s really important to marketers these days.” Brown adds additional insights in an article within the special report: “Capturing the path to purchase is essential in order to understand how consumers develop a trusting relationship with your brand,” he writes. “It’s with this knowledge that marketers know what to offer, what turns people away and how to assist new buyers in optimizing their own path to purchase.” In the article, Brown explores the three things every marketer needs to know about analytics, including: Using predictive analytics to improve adaptability Reinforcing internal analytics through third-party solutions Looking ahead at the future of modern analytics Brown also points out that: Multi-touch attribution is the new normal Capturing the path to purchase is harder Marketers will be paid more To download the full report, click here.

By Geoff Crain Canadian e-Commerce enjoyed a massive spike in 2020, with 20.7-percent growth accounting for a $39.2 billion upswing. With forecasts predicting the continued growth of online businesses, brands are shifting their models to web-friendly infrastructure. It can be a daunting task to complete to optimize your brand’s online presence and increase revenue. However, by following these four steps, brands can grow their e-Commerce revenue with ease. Optimize the Mobile Purchase Flow. As businesses pivoted to the pandemic’s new normal last year, a focus on direct-to-consumer marketing is demonstrated in prioritizing website functionality to allow brands to profit from online conversions. Following the skyrocketing rates of social media usage in 2020, brands that supplemented this with a social media strategy, such as Facebook and Instagram’s built-in storefronts, benefited from increased web traffic. However, online conversions depend heavily on optimizing mobile purchasing flow. When it comes to online marketing, you must have proper audience targeting. Commonly, improving the conversion rate by creating compelling and diverse content for segmented audiences can be the distinction between securing click-through rates and ROI — or being scrolled past. It's best to practice A/B testing between different graphics, product pages, and calls-to-action to find the proper creative that suits a specific audience. Further optimizing the brand’s website and store page for mobile devices, while also conducting a website and social profile audit, allows for every touchpoint to be updated to more accurately reflect the brand's voice and most importantly, drive revenue. Improve the Average-Order-Value (AOV). Improving your brand’s AOV allows the online store to sell more products and make more money with each transaction. Though most customers only visit a brand store to buy the item(s) they want or need, using key AOV strategies to present customers similar or supplemental products for prospective sales is vital for profitability. Test specific upsells on smaller products as add-ons or even limited-time combination (combo or bundle) offers. After collecting the results, review how these offers or price changes impact conversion rates for AOV and look to promote reiterations of these offers for better optimized AOV. Build Out Post-Conversion Flow. Due to most small brick-and-mortar stores continuing to operate solely online or in-person at a limited schedule, it is important to build recurring sales to loyal, frequent customers. Create a flow for emails from past orders. Sharing new information such as offers and new products to this newly created email flow establishes a steady stream of sales. Analyze the lifetime value (LTV) of your customers and test ways to increase it based on creative content, best-selling items, the frequency of their purchases, and other metrics. Analyze Data. With every campaign, it is important to set timely goals, particularly to analyze the data to establish a strategic optimization plan for growing e-Commerce revenue. Analyze all parts of the purchase funnel, noting key performance indicators (KPIs), and build strategies to better improve the conversion rate for each. Geoff Crain is digital media director at Toronto-based Kingstar Media, which is experienced in website optimization, building content for niche brands, and driving profitable e-commerce campaigns. He can be reached via email at geoff@kingstarmedia.com.

Affiliate marketing can be an extremely effective way to grow product sales or make money online. This type of marketing tactic has been responsible for creating a lot of wealth, for both companies and entrepreneurs. What Is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s products. The affiliate simply searches for a product they enjoy, then promotes that product and earns a piece of the profit from each sale they make. The sales are tracked via affiliate links from one website to another. How Does Affiliate Marketing Work? Since affiliate marketing works by sharing the responsibilities of product marketing and creation across parties, it manages to leverage the abilities of a variety of individuals for a more effective marketing strategy while providing contributors with a percentage of the sales that are created. In order for this to work, you do need 3 different parties must be involved: * Product Creators and the Seller - The product creator or seller, which can be a large company or an individual entrepreneur, they're responsible for having a product or service to sell. The product can be a physical object, software, or a service. By having an affiliate marketing program, the creator wouldn't have to be involved in the marketing. That doesn't mean the creator won't market their own product or service, but they will have an army of affiliates promoting the product/service. * Advertiser or Affiliate - Usually referred to an advertiser or publisher, the affiliate can also be a solo entrepreneur or a company - they promote the seller’s product to potential consumers. The goal for affiliates is to promote the product/service to persuade consumers to buy it - ideally they would try to show how valuable and beneficial it can be to their audience. When the consumer buys the service or product, the affiliate then receives a percentage of the sale. * Consumers - Consumers play an important role in the buying process, as well as the whole affiliate model. When consumers buy a product or service, the seller and the affiliate share the profits. Without the consumer, the affiliate marketing model is incomplete. Should I Build An Affiliate Marketing Program? While building an affiliate marketing program is a challenge, it can be very lucrative for you and others involved. Affiliate marketing can be a great pillar in your overall marketing strategy. Think about this: It Gives You An Army Of Marketers Promoting Your Service Or Product Affiliates want to join your program to earn revenue, so they will need to promote your product/service to their audience. They don't benefit unless they're making sales, so you know they'll put in the effort to achieve just that. If you can get dozens of affiliates promoting your work, your service or product can take off quick. Since a lot of affiliates create content, it's a great way to get your product/service to the masses. It Doesn't Cost A Lot Of Money To Start An Affiliate Program While a lot of marketing tactics cost a lot of money to get started, affiliate marketing doesn't cost you anything. Well, you may have to build a program through code, but outside of that, it's very cost-effective to start. Now, if you're looking into getting started as an affiliate marketer, good news, you can get started for free. The majority of affiliate programs don't cost anything to join, so if you're looking to make money online, it's a great place to start. Everyone Likes Making Money Affiliate marketing is attractive for sellers as well. A lot of people do affiliate marketing full-time, they make great money too. However, even if you're working a 9-5 job, you can add an income stream by doing affiliate marketing. Most of the biggest brands in the world have affiliate marketing programs, so if you're wanting to become an entrepreneur and work from home, affiliate marketing can give you that opportunity. If you plan on launching an affiliate marketing program, you shouldn't have a problem finding affiliates to join. You'll want to make sure your subscribers and audience know you have a program, so be sure to list it on your website and share it via social media. Affiliate marketing is a methodology where third-party media buyers drive potential customers to an advertiser's product or service — on behalf of the advertiser. Affiliates can: purchase media at scale to generate sales; create unique marketing materials — separate from the advertiser's materials — to target different consumers; and market a product or service in new geographies. Want to read more about the basics of affiliate marketing? PDMI member DFO Global has you covered with this evergreen infographic that breaks down the components of affiliate marketing, how affiliates get paid, potential challenges, and more. Click here or on the image below to access this infographic today. Thinking about joining PDMI? Our members enjoy a wide range of features and benefits, click this link to check out everything included in a PDMI membership.

If you want you brand, business, or company to succeed, you have to perform. This is where performance marketing can help. We're always talking about marketing strategies and tactics, marketing plays a vital role in giving you what you need to grow your business and brand. What Is Performance Marketing? Performance Marketing is a comprehensive term that refers to online marketing and advertising programs in which advertisers (a.k.a., “retailers” or “merchants”) pay marketing companies (a.k.a, “affiliates” or “publishers”) when a specific action is completed; such as a sale, lead or click. Why Is Performance Marketing Important? Performance marketing is marketing based solely on business outcomes and data. While brand marketing is used to grow recognition and increase visibility, unfortunately it doesn't focus on what matters most in marketing: results. Furthermore, when you know the exact results you're getting, you're going to be better prepared to make the "right" business decisions. It Helps You Track KPIs And What Matters The Most Performance marketing is trackable and measurable down to the exact clicks. Companies will have the ability to track and measure everything - from acquisition costs to individual store sales, even the average order value of new customers. Performance marketing's strength is derived from a straightforward concept: the agency must meet client-defined metrics and achieve the desired impact — a measurable business result — to fulfill the contract. Check Out This Performance Marketing Infographic Want to read more about the basics of performance marketing? PDMI member DFO Global has you covered with this evergreen infographic that breaks down the difference between brand and performance marketing, how performance marketing works, common conversion goals, and more. Click here or on the image below to access this infographic today. Enjoying the content? If so, you should check out our exclusive PDMI content. Become a PDMI member is simple and easy, click here to check out the benefits and features of a PDMI membership.

This article originally ran in CXBuzz. Hello. Is There Anybody in There? All of us as CX professionals and, more importantly, as customers have had the opportunity to be on the user end of automated response and resolution tools when we “need something” from a company. Some of these experiences are great, while others fall incredibly short and end up being more frustrating than liberating. I am fortunate to be in a position where I get to review and assess new customer-facing technologies on a regular basis, and one of the latest contenders for the champion of new-age customer experience is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatBots. Some companies are using AI platforms and doing some incredible things with automation and customer self-empowerment. Then there are the others who have tried and don’t understand why it’s not working. The objective of AI that truly matters most is EMPOWERING your customers with information and personalized back-end system details to resolve their issues themselves. For their automated experience to be a great one, it has to happen quickly, seamlessly, and most importantly…effortlessly. If your strategic focus as a CX leader setting up an AI program is on cost control and contact avoidance, you’re missing the goal of the entire mission. Let’s get down to the details of what’s needs to consider when looking at the right AI solution for (a) your customers and (b) you as a company. The glossy promotional marketing material will have you convinced that “AI Platform X” or “ChatBot Platform Y” is going to be game-changing for your customers, your personalization programs, your improved CX, your customer care budget, and your company’s reputation management. But without YOU, that’s not going to happen. I want to be clear: many of these platforms CAN yield all of these positive results, but what is important to remember is that launching an AI program is just like outsourcing some of your customer contacts to a BPO partner. As the “Client,” you own the SOPs, technology, KPIs, and all that comes with operational service delivery to your customers. When you outsource to a partner, their operation is a photocopy of your own operation. In the AI use case, you’re outsourcing those same things to the platform. With an AI program, you need technology to accomplish the things that customers would usually contact you to have resolved by a live person. In that case, there are a number of questions that you need to be able to answer before going down the path of automation. Questions You Need to be Answered Before Applying ChatBots Does your company have solid, airtight, repeatable processes that a machine can execute reliably? Is there a significant percentage of contact drivers that require human interaction? How well does the AI system learn natural language patterns, and how much human training will be involved to get the platform performing well? What role does authentication play in terms of the AI system’s ability to resolve specific customer issues? If the answer is, “Yes, that matters,“ are your back-end systems prepared to integrate seamlessly? Are you considering the positioning of AI throughout the entire customer journey — from Discovery through to Resolution? Lastly and arguably most importantly, is this what YOUR customers want? The point that I’m alluding to is that before you go down the path of implementing any AI or ChatBot program is that there are many platform providers out there that can deliver some great benefits to your organization and customers. However, what is even more important to understand is – what can YOU offer the AI platform in order to ensure that it actually works well? I believe that too often, we are so impressed by the capabilities of these platforms that we fail to see that they will only be as good as the inputs that we can contribute on the client side. What Challenges Does an AI Chatbot Platform Solve? The true challenge for any automated AI platform (I call this “Tier Zero”) is whether it can actually resolve: (a) customer information seeking; and (b) issues resolution inquiries in a seamless and effortless way. It’s key to be able to make customers feel like you’re taking care of their needs without feeling like they’re “talking to a machine.” If your AI rollout leads to customers wandering around a cyber maze, confusion, and ultimately having to engage a live agent anyway — you’ve done more harm than good. In short, should you consider implementing a smart AI system? The answer is likely, “Yes.“ But the more important question to ask yourself is, “Can our internal systems and processes do it?” If the answer is “No,” or “I don’t know,” you should likely focus on shoring up those processes and back-end technologies before you light up any AI program. Once you have your operations and systems teed up to be a beneficial input to an AI platform, you can really look at how the teaming of your CX program plus AI machine learning can integrate to serve your customers effortlessly.

In the era of social media and influencers, even more business owners and CMOs are drawn like moths to the flame of earned media (promotion) or inexpensive digital media. However, when it comes to building a product or service to true scale, paid media — especially traditional media like television or radio — remains unbeaten. But even when finally convinced to enter this media marketplace, many companies remain reluctant to work with media buying agencies. For many, the belief that keeping those services in-house not only saves money but also allows them to maintain the power of their own vision about their product and its eventual success. However, the benefits of working with a media agency far outweigh any concerns. Below are just five reasons to enlist a powerful agency partner to buy and manage your media. Relationships and Clout. Put simply, it’s highly unlikely that you have the relationships with media outlets, the ability (and willingness) to negotiate with them, and the power of the purse that your new agency partner does. Your agency’s media spend with the outlets goes far beyond your account and gives them better access to a wider variety of opportunities to create the most efficient media plan. In addition, they know — and often enjoy — a negotiating process that can be tedious for inexperience in-house buyers. Experience. Media agencies not only understand relationships and negotiation, but also know how to build a strategy, change it on the fly, and optimize it throughout its lifespan. This experience and knowledge likely will more than pay for the added expense of hiring the agency. They’ll get the strategy right the first time and can play on those long-standing relationships with media outlets to tweak your campaign on the fly to maximize ROI. Perspective. Often, as the product owner, it’s easy to lose sight of your product’s strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of the consumer. You are so invested in its success, that you simply can’t see how someone wouldn’t buy it. A media agency can help remove that blind spot by bringing a new perspective on your strategy. An understanding of how rates fluctuate, which outlets will best serve your campaign, and what’s worked (and hasn’t) in your vertical before allows your agency partner to expand your vision and minimize your challenges. Taking Away Your To-Do List. The day-to-day grind of managing your own media plan is no joke: integrating new data from various platforms into your evolving media plan; traffic; invoicing; reconciling ratings and measuring effectiveness; and more. A media agency will take away these headaches and allow you to focus on the big picture. Data and Analysis. Instead of building your own planning process and seeking out data and analysis vendors to assist in maximizing your campaign, hiring a media agency means all of that is in place due to the agency’s existing data and planning expertise — and vendor relationships. Advanced media tools that come through these relationships will lead to media buys that are both methodical and evolving as new information is gleaned. Many leading media agencies are members of the PDMI. Take a look at our list of member companies today for more information.

As direct response marketing has spread from traditional media like TV and radio into digital outlets like email and social media, the premium placed on outstanding direct response copywriting has grown exponentially. But the mechanics of effective DR copywriting have remained mostly the same. What Is Direct Response Copywriting? Direct response copywriting refers to the process of writing sales copy that has a goal of getting an immediate response from consumers. Direct response copywriting can be extremely effective at generating sales, especially when it's written for a specific target audience. With this type of copywriting, the direct response copywriter is responsible for generating sales with his or her copywriting. In the business world, direct response copywriters are viewed in a high manner, it takes a special copywriter to influence consumers to take action with only their words. Why Is Direct Response Copy So Effective? Yes, if you want to see results from your copy, you need a great direct response copywriter. However, the concept of direct response copy as a whole, that is why this type of marketing can get fast results. The idea: active, engaging copy that’s designed to drive consumers to decide to respond to the marketing piece immediately — whether by making a purchase or requesting more information (lead generation). Certainly, this differs greatly from brand marketing copywriting, which generally serves to keep a brand top of mind or associate positive feelings with the brand or product. That’s why direct response copywriting is a specialty that takes time and effort to master — meaning there are few true experts with a track record of success. Fortunately, a number of those copywriting and creative experts are among the PDMI’s membership. But what do you — as a marketer — need to keep in mind about effective direct response copywriting as you work with your chosen expert? 5 Key Things Every Direct Response Copy Should Have Here are five things that every piece of direct response copy should achieve: Personalization. Each consumer who sees, hears, or reads your direct response copy should feel as though you’re speaking directly to them. Don’t just list a product’s features; tell the consumer how (and how quickly) the product will solve a problem or make their lives easier and more enjoyable. By the time the consumer is done, they should have an image in their mind about how they’ll experience the product. Clarity. Don’t muck up your copy with flowery language that doesn’t drive toward the end goal — a response. Be clear: again, show the consumer how the product will affect their lives. Focus first on the consumer’s desired outcomes by using the product, then provide the reasons why this product will create those outcomes. Be direct and be about the consumer. Detail. The best direct response copywriting allows your consumer to feel like he or she is making the smart (and well considered) decision. Provide product details, company expertise, and any and all objective evidence that backs up your claims about the product’s ability to solve the consumer’s problems. Facts, statistics, case studies, testimonials: all of these provide a level of detail that drives the consumer to feel comfortable making the snap decision a direct response marketer desires. Go long. The differences between long-form and short-form DRTV campaigns are clear and well understood. But what about when you’re further down the sales funnel — say, on a website or in a postcard retargeting campaign? While we’re all trained that shorter copy is better, certain research has shown that longer-form copy can not only increase consumer engagement but also is rewarded by search engines. By the time a consumer has reached your website and is diving into more information about your product, they want more in-depth information about how the product can truly benefit them. Call-to-action. You must ask for the sale. None of the effort in the bullets above is worth one cent if you do not close the deal — and closing the deal means a powerful call-to-action (CTA) to which the consumer responds positively. Some ways to drive immediate response in a CTA include: exclusive offers, time-sensitive deals, or limited availability. And though the CTA closes the copy, the consumer should know the offer well, long before they reach the end of the add. That’s right: the CTA should be mentioned multiple times in the copy. When you’re creating a direct response, direct-to-consumer, or performance marketing campaign, it doesn’t pay to use a copywriter who isn’t steeped in the DR skillset. Start out by finding and contracting a talented, experienced DR copywriter. Have you joined PDMI's exclusive membership yet? As a member, you'll get access to exclusive PDMI content, educational training, private events, as well as opportunities to contribute to PDMI publications! Click here to see the full list of benefits for joining PDMI.