Intense!

That is how I would sum up the championship dart finals that Gary Meyers and I, and the rest of our Chips team participated in on Wednesday night at Coopers, our home tavern. We were matched up against The Dart Bags, and they were ready to go, jumping out to a 5 -1 lead. First team to 11 wins took the crown, so at this point we were beginning to get a little concerned. We crept back into it, and before you knew it we were tied at 7-7.

Then we went to work and took the next two matches. Two more wins and the title was ours. This is where the atmosphere got intense. We were up both games, on the cusp of the championship, and then lost them both on the crucial bulls-eye throws.

So, with the score tied 10 to 10 we go to the “team” match of 801 to decide the night. Neck and neck throughout the whole game and it comes down to the first team to “double out.” Each player had an opportunity to win it, to be the hero, and each player failed, not once but twice. Then our team captain, Kirbie steps up for Chips and nails the double 4. VICTORY!!!! Well done guys. Cheers to a great season.

John Kennedy
New Business Manager

Depending upon the source, it’s been reported that consumers receive on average anywhere from 250 to 3,000 marketing impressions in a single day. Even taking a low figure of 100 impressions per day adds up to 36,500 a year!

So, if you’re an advertiser, how do you stand out? In the case of Hodgson/Meyers client CSG Systems. Inc. – a customer interaction management solution company – the answer was to come out fighting. Or at least to wear boxing gloves.

How to stand out in the direct mail crowd

In touching more than half of all U.S. households, CSG helps companies such as Comcast, DISH and Time Warner with billing and customer interaction solutions. When the time came to introduce a new product offering, CSG wanted to reach approximately 100 key decision makers in the cable and satellite TV industry.

With such a narrow, targeted audience, a direct mail approach seemed the most appropriate vehicle. However, these influential executives are also the same targets of most every other technology company as well. Thus, the challenge became to create marketing materials that would not immediately be placed in the round file, under W for wastebasket.

As the marketing agency for CSG, we needed to think big and think outside the box. In this case, thinking big meant size. And thinking outside the box had to do with thinking about what went inside the box.

Which brings us back to boxing gloves.

Adapt the mail strategy to the marketing strategy

Cable and satellite marketing managers face the never-ending problem of customer churn, people who leave one provider for another. CSG has a way to help providers eliminate churn with a better customer management solution. We recommended sending life-size professional boxing gloves along with product information to the target audience, allowing CSG to figuratively and literally give marketing executives the tools to effectively fight churn.

The sheer size of the direct mail piece (7.5” x 10.5” x 12.5”) received immediate attention. Inside a handsome box, copy and layout framed a personalized message as if announcing a heavyweight championship bout.

Box copy and Everlast boxing gloves were customized with each individual recipient’s name. These decision makers were encouraged to “K.O. churn with CSG customer intelligence solutions.” In so doing, they’d be able to build strong customer relationships, retain subscribers more effectively and enhance the value of each customer interaction.

Big package. Big Idea. In short, a real knockout!

(Customized boxes for the CSG mailer were provided by MasterCraft.)

The long 18-week dart season is now down to the final match. Our team, Chips, took first place in the regular season standings, with Gary ranking individually at number three in the league, and myself at number eleven. The playoff format is a best of 21 games, and we were matched up against Dart Vader in the first round last Wednesday night. Vader smacked Gary down in the first match, before we ran off a 10-game winning streak, culminating in an 11 – 2 rout. On to the championship next Wednesday (2/3) against The Dart Bags. First dart is at 7:30. Get there early for the best view of the action (if you can call dart throwing “action”).

Cheers!

John Kennedy
New Business Manager

Do you dig woodpeckers? Of course you do.

Get your FREE stick-on tattoo of Spike, our Chairman of the Board and Aviary Magazine’s 2009 “Sexiest Woodpecker Alive.”

Tattoos fully guaranteed for an entire week, unless you bathe. Or sweat.

Send us a photo of you with your new tattoo and we’ll post our favorites here.

Gary Meyers
President

How do you hang onto sides of trees?
I have special feet. They have sharp claws of course. But I also have two toes that go forward and two that go back. It’s like having a couple of thumbs to help me grip with. My tail feathers help me too. They are very stiff, and I lean on them for support, like a tripod.

How do you find food?
When I hear an insect under tree bark I peck a hole into the bark with my beak, which being long, straight, and pointy is good for making holes. My tongue is extremely long and sticky and sharp, perfect for impaling bugs, grabbing ants, and licking sap. Because my bill is straight, it is also good for collecting nuts and berries.

How fast is your beak moving when you’re drumming?
Typically between 14.5-16.8 beats per second.

Doesn’t all that hard pecking give you a headache?
I have an extra-thick skull, so it doesn’t hurt.

What’s your favorite food?
From trees – beetles and carpenter ants. From birdfeeders – peanut butter. Love that stuff!

Questions for Spike? Ask here.

Gary Meyers
President

Link building is an important part of the SEO process. However, when you outsource your link building you are putting your online reputation in the hands of others. Your links are an online representation of your business. If you outsource, make sure you trust them or you might end up with links like this one someone tried to post here on Spike Speak.

Why This is a Bad Link:

- It’s generic and clearly template driven. It just looks spammy.
- Fake email address. Only blog admins see your email address on a comment, so why give a fake one?
- It was blocked by Cookies For Comments (CFC) as spam. If it looks spammy to CFC, you can rest assured that it looks spammy to Google and the other search engines.

If you have ever heard someone complaining that they got “Google Slapped” and were knocked out of the search results, odds are good that it is because they were participating in link building such as this.

We deleted this comment right off the bat. And I now assume that this company is probably not legit since they (or their vendor) used spammy SEO practices.

There is more to link building than just links and this type of link building does NOT generate the kind of results that most are looking for, however it is typical of what often happens when you outsource this important element of SEO.

A large part of SEO and Social Media overlap, posting to blogs is one of those areas. Make sure you are actively participating in a positive way with the audience and your link building efforts will be much more effective because of that.

Good social leads to good SEO.

Robert Coats
Senior Search Strategist

After a bye week that conveniently fell between Christmas and New Year’s, the Chips team was back in action last night taking on the dreaded Dart Vader. The Chips team was really challenged through the first half of the match. Down 7 games to 5, the Chips pulled off a stunning 9 straight wins to take home a 14 – 7 victory. A solid win over a good throwing Dart Vader team. I wouldn’t be surprised if we face off against these guys in the first round of the playoffs.

With two weeks left in the regular season the Chips continue to maintain a strong lead in the team standings. Individually Gary and I both had quality nights, each going 5 and 1. Gary jumped up to 4th in the overall individual league standings while I’m left at 10th for the umpteenth week.

Next Wednesday evening we’re on the road again, visiting the Knarrcoleptics at the Knarr Tavern in the U District. Check out the Knarr reviews posted on Yelp (especially Nicholas E. – he’s dead on). Hope to see you there.

Cheers!

John Kennedy
New Business Manager

Measuring the performance of a marketing campaign has always been critical.

Social media is no different.

While social interactions may not match up directly to sales (though this is possible with the right tools and diligent tracking), you can determine which social interactions led to different important actions. If you know the value of these actions, you can determine the ROI from your social interactions that lead to these actions.

Be sure to add web analytics tracking code from Google Analytics (or your preferred web analytics tool) so you can measure this down to the individual post level.

7 Ways to Measure Social Media ROI

1. Newsletter sign-up – especially if you have topic or product specific newsletters.
2. Contact form – pretty obvious
3. Phone call – can implement phone number tracking, or try adding unique 1-800 numbers to your social profiles.
4. Twitter Retweet – promotes you as a thought leader in your industry. It’s essentially a mini endorsement.
5. Twitter Follower or Facebook Fan – essentially a mailing list add, only with more legs since friends can see see these as well while only that individual will see your emails.
6. Liking or commenting on a Facebook Page post – Again, this is interaction with your company, a clear sign of their interest in you.
7. Endorsement or Thank You on any network – helps position you as a helpful thought leader in your industry, which has huge value.

Be sure to assign a dollar value to each of these conversion points. Is a phone call worth more to you than a newsletter sign-up? In which of these mediums does your sales team work best? What is the cost of your social media program (usually this is personnel time)?

Finally, there is no ROI if you don’t set Goals in advance. Know what you want to achieve with social media before you dive in.

Got more ways to measure? Chime in!

Liz Wagner
Online Marketing

Gary Meyers
President

A frustrating week at the oche for the Chips, but we managed to squeak out a 12 – 9 victory against The Ladies in Waiting.

After a four win and four loss night, somehow Gary Meyers managed to hang on to the number two ranking in the league.  My night was only slightly better (5 and 3) leaving me at number six in the league.

We’re back at Cooper’s on Wednesday night for a second go round with Who Darted.

First dart at 7:30PM. Gary is buying again.

Cheers!

John Kennedy
New Business Manager