I always use my clients' products. This is not toady-ism, but just plain elementary good manners. --David Ogilvy, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

ugh MacLeod

Until recently, one could not buy Hugh's artwork. They were given away to friends or as part of private events. Nevertheless, they have always been in demand and often traded.

Hugh's blog, www.gapingvoid.com has been one of the most trafficked independent blogs ever written. Readers have been asking Hugh for years to make some of his images available for sale.

The first few print editions sold out almost overnight on their pre-publishing offers, and Hugh set aside a few prints from each edition to offer to new readers.

Hugh's work is now being collected by a who's who of marketing, advertising and tech executives as well as geeks around the world. It is being hung in boardrooms, bedrooms and we imagine, a few bathrooms.

He believes that value over time will be enhanced by keeping costs down, selling directly to collectors and keeping things simple. Hugh does corporate commissions and also does a very limited number of large canvases.

Good ideas mean Good Nurturing

Jim

We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it on the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself.

You've got to keep feeding and watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it. 
John Lennon 

I found this post from Modern BtoB Marketing Blog this weekend and was delighted to learn a new perspective on Nurturing Customer Relationships.
Clearly starting seeds from scratch means special attention to the environment of seedlings. They need nourishment, light and cultivating from the very start.

Good Nurturing

Jim

« Making Sense of the Chaos: Social CRM with Bill Odell | Modern B2B Marketing Blog | Marketing PSA: Beware of the “Evergreen Renewal" »

January 27, 2010

Introducing Seed Nurturing

This is where seed nurturing comes into play. Seed nurturing is the process of building relationships with qualified prospects before you have their contact information.

It comes down to is this: prospects are educating themselves long before you actually identify them by landing on your corporate Web site as anonymous visitors, and researching your products and services through third-party resources, word-of-mouth recommendations, and social media sites. Just because you can't identify these individuals doesn't mean they aren't qualified prospects — and because of this, you must nurture them just as you would the known contacts in your database.

If you succeed at this, you will stay top of mind with your prospects as they educate themselves and move through the early stages of their buying process. As a result, they will come to you when they are ready to engage with a sales rep, and you will create a steady flow of highly qualified inbound leads. If you ignore the requirement to build relationships with these very early stage prospects, you're yielding this opportunity to more agile competitors who will scoop these savvy prospects out from under you. Patrick Donnelly Modern B2B Marketing Blog

"You have to go through some tough times and fight through adversity in order to get to this kind of level and have these types of opportunities," Brees said. "Had you not gone through some of those things earlier in the history of this organization or in my own career, you wouldn't have learned the lessons you learned in order to get here, have that chip on your shoulder or have the motivation we had to be here and take part and win in the Super Bowl.

"I believe wholeheartedly the fact that everything happens for a reason. At times, life is going to put you in a position to wonder why this is happening to me or to us, and yet you know it's happening for a reason. It's there to make you stronger and to give the opportunity to accomplish something later on - and here we are."

Drew Brees, Quarterback, New Orleans Saints. 2010 Super Bowl Winner.

If there were an Oscar for
‘Customer Relationship Nurturing’,

Would you even be considered?
Would you be a nominee?

Would you Win?

WHY?

WHY NOT?

WHY NOT, INDEED?

I love to watch achievement celebrated on television. From the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the World Cup / World Series, to the Oscars or the Final 4 , all provide the opportunity to watch and celebrate the best of the best, often performing at their very best.
So if there is a Nurture OSCAR for the best and proven ideas in Nurturing Customer Relationships, how would nominees be evaluated?

I thought about the criteria that would go into such a measurement. So my Partner, Eric Rabinowitz and I have often spoken of having such an award from the Nurture Institute but it seems like now is better than later to begin to explore the actual steps taken, actual successes and hiccups enroute.

Ways results were measured, actual, verifiable statistics of results, lesions learned, residual benefits and plans going forward. So we are moving forward toward the launch of the first annual Nurture OSCAR to be awarded.

In preparation for some rules of research I have begun a list (additions welcomed and researched) of questions that I would ask a candidate

company for consideration.

1.   Define your CNN version of what you call Nurturing.

2.   How you came to adopt the nurturing philosophy?

3.   Identify and Describe/Profile your ideal Client,  Prospect, Center of Influence.

4.   Decide the number of relationships you will personally manage to nurture.

5.   I would ask them how they segmented their database.

6.    I would then ask for example action plans and campaigns followed by reliable statistics.

7.     How did they Identify, Individualize and Influence the targeted individuals

8.     How have they demonstrated “Helping Customers Succeed”?

9.     How has it changed your culture?

10.  What will you do differently in 2011?

That’s for starters. What questions would you add? Remove? Embellish?

Nurture OSCAR for 2010 is underway.

Good Nurturing

Jim

Case-Studies and Success Stories are a great all around Nurture Institute marketing tool

Success Stories and well-crafted case studies communicate your capabilities to your clients and prospects. They tell real stories, of real situations and or problems that were solved by you, your company or your offering. They offer an opportunity to broadcast the unique services you provide and expose clients and potential clients to the full breadth and capabilities of the products/solutions you sell.  Success stories dimensionalize tangible ways  you made the client’s life easier, more efficient and more profitable!   You should strive for at least one success story for every major industry you serve, and for every significant product that you sell.   The best stories are ones that demonstrate quantifiable results, focus on an interesting subject company, and highlight the benefits your customer enjoyed while working with your company.

Ideally, the success story writer possesses the background and depth of experience in the industry to bring a reader’s questions to the task. No writer I have yet worked with meets that description of case study writing more than the Nurture Institute’s, Nurture Writers Guild’s Senior Writer, Carol Ellison, author of the attached articles. Read them and think about ways you can use these crucial tools to broadcast your experience and success to the prospects and clients you want to reach.  .

A Knack for Nurturing. NY Life Agent builds lifelong links with centers of influence in his community.

Nurturing for Life. Nurture marketing program empowers patients and profits at Chicago's Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Some very good writing by my favorite case-study author.

Good Nurturing

Jim

I received this invitation yesterday. It reminded me of the rapid shift that is occurring in business relationships across the world. Much is related to technology that has made 1 to 1 communications easy and far more effective.  The other is when a renowned University begins to offer a Masters Degree in nurturing customer relationships.

Customer Relationship Management Room 253 Professor Ivens

Businesses and other organizations exist to serve clients. An organization depends on its customers and suppliers for the resources it needs in order to carry out its business. Managing relationships with customers and suppliers is thus the critical task in any company and requires specific skills and knowledge in particular in management, communication and economics. The aim of this Master is to explore the various aspects of managing market relationships and thus the task of marketing in different types of organizations. The distinctive feature of the programme is the attention to specific issues, not only in marketing consumer goods, but also in the service sectors, in business-to-business and international contexts.

Next intake is September 2010. Applications are welcome from now on until July 1.

The goal of the course is to familiarize students with the management of customers and customer relationships. 

Building, maintaining and nurturing customer relationships are strategic core processes for many companies today. Customer satisfaction and loyalty are two central objectives and companies invest important parts of their marketing and sales budgets to increase their closeness to the customers. But these investments must lead to an efficient and effective management approach.

The MSc in Marketing is offered jointly by the Faculties of Communication Sciences and of Economics of the Università della Svizzera italiana, USI, situated in Lugano - Switzerland. This full-time study programme comprises 120 ECTS spread over 4 semesters (usual duration 2 years) and is entirely offered in English.

It sounds like a great experience, if one has two years to invest. Short of matriculating, perhaps among the natural nurturers sharing this blog may fill in some of the pieces.

Good Nurturing

Jim

5 Types of Nurture Programs

Since then, she has supervised the launch of 78 software products or services, and placed more than 111 articles written by or about her clients in CIO Magazine, PC Magazine, SD Times, eWeek, InfoWorld, Dr. Dobb’s Journal, and a wide range of vertical magazines and Web portals.

Today JMR is a virtual business with clients and partners around the world.

Prior to founding JMR Consulting, Judy worked as an international marketing manager for Sage Software and a marketing manager for CACI. She also has five years of programming experience. She graduated cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Economics.

As an expert in software marketing, Judy has been interviewed by industry publications such as Software Success and MarketingSherpa. She also serves as a moderator of the Marketing and Public Relations forum on SoftwareCEO.com.

I believe you will really enjoy her most recent post.

5 Types of Nurture Programs

Good Nurturing

Jim

“You reap what you sow. In fact, you always reap more than you sow--you plant a seed and reap a bushel. What you give you get. What you put into the ground then grows out of the ground. If you give nurturing with your heart you will be nurtured abundantly in return. If you give of your time, you will gain time. It is one of the truest laws of the universe.
Decide what you want out of life and then begin to sow it.”
 Jim Rohn 

                                                                     “The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men Gang aft agley,” Scottish Proverb 

Archie became my go-to  company when it came to sourcing unique, small-enough, and affordable,  dimensional metaphors from the very start of Nurture Marketing.
We were exploring the use of powerful ways to dimensionalize the metaphorical connections and communications were attempting to explain.

Finding him was like heaven for impact-mail types like me. I have literally tested and measured each enclosure selected for it’s ‘ah-ha’ responses. Out of the hundreds

considered, ranking the best, some proved exceptionally memorable. Check out these and more at www.accoutrements.com .

50 lumpy-mailings with this sure-keeper.
 
 

Naturally blog-time tolerance allows for only the recent superstars but in candor, there have been some unpleasant surprises with ‘lumpies’.

The more I tested metaphors, the more aware I became of how metaphors are everywhere. Some work, some backfire.

An early client, wanting to get the attention of Sales Executives bosses reengineering sluggish sales forces. I almost immediately came up with a headline

“A Sluggish Sales Force Always Produces a Sluggish Bottom Line”. All we needed was a metaphor. Archie came through as usual. He sent me a very realistic looking, black

Slug, about 6”  long and it even had a slightly sticky skin. I felt, BINGO. We double-back taped a slug at the top of each letter. Couldn’t wait for the statistics.
Sent fifty and offered a free sales-force assessment and diagnostic. Then I waited impatiently for replies.
The first day was a triumph and a near disaster.

I took all inbound calls that day and grew more excited by each of the first five calls. All were tickled by the metaphor and requested the free personal assessment.

Lunch was an excite blur. It looked like we had hit a home-run. At least till the first call of the afternoon. A mature and articulate lady quietly introduced herself, her company and the reason for the call. She asked for the name of our law firm and explained the request. Turns out, she is the executive secretary to the president and opens every piece of his mail.  She opened ours first since it ‘stood-out’. As she leaned back in her chair while opening the envelope and was startled by the slug that had somehow become unstuck and fell hitting her in the neck. In her shock of surprise, she hurled herself backward hitting her head on the file cabinet behind and thought she might have whiplash.
Well, turns out there was no injury and the gracious lady forgave me and even opened the door to the boss for me and a client resulted, obviously using a subtler metaphor.

Lessons: Test then celebrate your crazy ideas.
Always use a better sensitivity to the possible reaction(s) to be anticipated by the opener.

Don’t trust your intuition till after a blind test.

The ardent nurture is constantly seeking fresh, innovative experiences for their clients and prospective ones, but remember the edict of the ancients;
 But use a better sensitivity to the possible reaction to be anticipated by the opener. With even the best of intentions, “The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men Gang aft agley,”.

Good Nurturing

Jim

A major frustration for marketers like me about eMail in nurture marketing, has been the use of a mass-email forwarding server, like the well known “Constant Contact” and a host of competitors to eliminate the inconsistency of sending exactly the same message using individual emails. It seemed at first to be another internet  dream come true.
Especially for newsletters, continuing events and eZines.

The trouble began when adroit marketers and sales reps alike quickly adopted the same approach to their external messaging as well. Quick, Easy, Cheap. What’s not to like about a system like that?

Well it turns out there are a lot of unexpected and disturbing drawbacks that must be considered. I will cover a few today and add others and your comments as they fit.

The Discovery of Weaving

#1. When using anyone else’s server to forward a message(s) to a third party, CAN-SPAM regulations require that both the forwarder as well as the original sender’s name be posted in the ‘From’ line of each email message sent, immediately identifying itself, front and center, as a MASS mailing. Never met a marketer yet that preferred this announcement but most gave in to expediency.

#2. What you thought to be a ‘FREE’ eMail forwarding service carried a, hardly subtle, perpetual ‘tax’ for the service by placing a gaudy, logo-emblazoned, advertisement soliciting new users from your email list? FREE? Hardly.

My old friend and business partner, Eric Rabinowitz, used it often but it irritated him every time he hit send.
He groused that there were people on his lists that warranted strictly personal emails from him and that just expanded the problem. Few people know that Eric, while renowned for the development of the Nurture Institute he had a long, successful career in diagnosing and curing very high technology. In his early career, he programmed computers for major financial institutions on Wall Street. When he shifted to entrepreneurial ventures, he discovered his knack for selling and for nurturing and never stopped exploring the software and technology that would drive this fascinating new dimension of ‘one to one’ communications.

You can imagine my delight to read the press release this morning, announcing a ‘cure for the common ‘bounced-eMail’.

cMail has finally reached a place that makes Eric happy, and I predict many, many more nurturers much happier when they next hit ‘Send”.

Good Nurturing

Jim

Agency Contact:

Mark Tordik

Springboard Public Relations

732-863-1900 x208

mark.tordik@springboardpr.com

For Immediate Release:

The Nurture Institute Launches “Hybrid” Email Marketing

Tool Designed to Streamline Campaign Management

e-Mail Assistant is First to Combine Server- and Client-Based Functionality to Centralize Email Marketing Campaigns, Improving Deliverability and Driving Results

Woodbridge, NJ (February 22, 2010) – The Nurture Institute today announced the launch and immediate availability of e-Mail Assistant, a new email marketing and campaign management tool. Aimed for targeted campaigns of 1,000 recipients or less, e-Mail Assistant leverages the Nurture Institute’s extensive expertise in implementing results-oriented nurture marketing programs. Offering a unique email marketing solution, e-Mail Assistant is designed to help organizations improve deliverability, personalization, tracking and most importantly, results.

Unlike other “spray and pray” email marketing solutions that use a fixed email address or alias to distribute campaigns, e-Mail Assistant provides a hybrid approach, combining a SaaS-based platform that integrates with Microsoft Outlook.  Each campaign is centrally managed via e-Mail Assistant, but the actual delivery utilizes individual sales personnel’s Outlook application to send outbound personalized email messages which are unobtrusive to the sender and fully transparent to the recipient.

“We started a campaign with e-Mail Assistant a few months ago, and already lined up seven meetings, including two huge leads,” said Kelly Bruesewitz, Marketing Vice-President at Nautilus Group, a service of New York Life Insurance Company.  “I really believe that sending personal email directly from Outlook makes a significant difference in deliverability.  I am most impressed with the e-Mail Assistant's lead scoring system that I use all the time to prioritize who to call and when."

e-Mail Assistant simplifies email marketing for organizations by hosting CAN-SPAM compliant campaign messages, templates and customer/prospect databases. It also manages opt-outs and provides a full array of tracking and analytics. The software is designed as a campaign tool that can support a series of email messages.  However, users have the flexibility to determine whether or not recipients get all or a specific subset of the messages within a campaign. The salesperson can edit the list and insert personalized greetings and text to customize each email message before it is sent.

Instant Notifications

When an email from e-Mail Assistant is opened by a recipient, the respective salesperson responsible for that customer or prospect is immediately notified with an “Activity Now” message by e-Mail Assistant. This feature allows sales personnel to focus their attention on the most promising leads and proactively respond. Additionally, as recipients open email campaigns, e-Mail Assistant tracks all activity such as opens, clicks and forwards.  These analytics are maintained by the e-Mail Assistant and made available to users via a secure Web portal.

Leverage Best Practices

As part of the set-up process, Nurture Institute can create customizable HTML template(s) for each campaign, leveraging nurture marketing techniques and industry best practices. This enables organizations to build campaigns that yield better results than other email marketing solutions. Alternatively, customers can author their own messages for e-Mail Assistant.

“We offer a ‘software plus services’ approach to creating targeted email marketing campaigns,” explained Eric Rabinowitz, president of The Nurture Institute. “With e-Mail Assistant, we not only provide you with a superb tool to implement email marketing campaigns, but ensure that you have the right messaging strategy and plan in place to achieve better results.  We like to think of it as the difference between merely joining a fitness center versus utilizing the expertise of a personal trainer. The latter delivers personal attention and tangible results faster.”

Pricing

Available today, the e-Mail Assistant is priced per campaign and can be utilized by an unlimited number of users. For campaigns up to 500 email recipients, the price is $195. Pricing for a campaign with 501 and 1000 email recipients is $250. For each campaign, there is an initial set-up cost to create the HTML template. Check out a demo of e-Mail Assistant.

About The Nurture Institute

Founded in 2004, The Nurture Institute is a full-service business-to-business consulting firm that offers a “software plus services” email marketing solution built around the company’s best practices and nurture marketing expertise. The company’s flagship offering, e-Mail Assistant, revolutionizes the process of managing email marketing campaigns. To learn more, visit www.eMailAssistant.com or call 888-948-1119.

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