So, what’s a direct marketing blog doing talking about coffee? Well, it was on my mind today and the more I browsed around, the more coffee news I came up with, and felt the compulsion to share with you.

You’ve probably all heard about Starbucks’ offer to give everyone who votes today a cup of joe. For free. Without requiring any proof of voting. I love that! We’ve been faced with so much depressing economic news (and don’t get me started about the overkill on the election coverage…), that news about getting anything for free, especially one of my favorite things, puts a grin on my face. Kudos for Starbucks for being good to their customers and encouraging us all to vote. Oh, and kudos to them for garnering all of this good press and building customer good-will at the same time.

While I’m on the topic of Starbucks, check out this DM News article about their launch of a new loyalty program. If you spend more than $5/week at Starbucks, you will definitely find value in this card, even though it’s not free. You know my take on this, as a database marketer–I’m drooling over the opportunities to mine the customer data and figure out new ways to sell more things and grow customer loyalty.

Here’s an overview of the program, straight from the article:

The new Gold program, which goes into wide release on November 4, offers a 10% discount on most in-store purchases. Gold membership costs $25 annually and offers its own card, which users are encouraged to register for additional benefits such as complimentary beverages on their birthdays. Starbucks Card Rewards, the program that launched earlier this year, provides members with free drink customizations and WiFi hours with the use of a pre-loaded Starbucks card.

And, if that wasn’t enough coffee news, take a look at this item (also from DM News) that talks about Caribou Coffee’s launch of a mobile marketing campaign. I can see how this channel could be ideal for retailers like Caribou–catch your demographic (in this case, they wanted to boost sales to 18-34 year olds) when they’re out and about and shoot them a valuable coupon ($1 off a large drink). Nice application of mobile marketing, wouldn’t you agree?

So, there you have it, an update on direct marketing of coffee–with some loyalty ideas thrown in at no extra charge!

Gotta go–need to drink my Venti!

Today’s case study comes to us from Sigma Marketing Group, a full-service database marketing firm. They’ve highlighted work they’ve done for their client, Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE) helping them with regional economic development programs. I like this one because it incorporates analytics and cleverly uses data to generate a successful program.

The Challenge
GRE is a regional economic development organization supported by a team of private and public sector leaders dedicated to improving economic performance in the Rochester, New York Finger Lakes region. Its primary goals are to:

• retain and expand existing business;
• professionally market the region as a competitive, vibrant, and high-profile place for business location and growth;
• support business attraction, expansion, entrepreneurship, and innovation by collaborating with local businesses, universities, not-for-profit organizations, and government leaders.

Because of Rochester’s rich history of thriving high-tech companies, GRE determined that the region was best suited to attract three types of industries:

• Fuel Cell
• Biotechnology
• Optics

To that end, they approached SIGMA Marketing Group with the following challenge:
Focusing on these three industries, help us identify companies across the country that are likely to:

• Expand operations
• Consider Rochester as a potential site for expansion

The Breakthrough
SIGMA developed an analytic-based direct marketing program with the following methodology:

• The Lists: Build search criteria, customize lists from a variety of sources, then target decision-makers in the three industries across the country.
• The Mailer: Create a cost-effective, compelling direct mail piece that includes specific information on why the company should consider Rochester for its expansion needs. Specifically, SIGMA created bi-fold brochures that were customized for each industry.
• The Data: Include an attractive offer in the piece that would entice the recipient to:

• Log onto a new GRE Web page
• Provide self-reported data via a simple online questionnaire
• The Offer: For those recipients willing to go to the site, GRE provided them with:
• A free S.W.O.T. analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) written by a leader in the recipient’s industry.
• A link to a website that allowed recipients to choose amongst several business-related gifts or charitable contributions.

• The Analytical Model: SIGMA then created a model that analyzed the results into three categories:

• Alert: These are highly qualified prospects who should be called immediately.
• Semi-Alert: These are qualified prospects who should be called within 30 days.
• Future Contact: These prospects are not qualified for immediate follow-up, but should be contacted on an as-needed basis.

The Win
“SIGMA designed an effective direct mail campaign that yielded double our projected response. In addition, the self-reported data incorporated in this campaign delivered insightful quantitative research that has helped us further refine our marketing efforts.”

TGIF!

As always, I’m happy to bring you some of the articles that I found interesting this week.

How to Win the Social Marketing War
OK, I’m not sure I would categorize social marketing as a ‘war’, but author Pete Kulenek posts a nice summary of how businesses can/should include social activities such as Facebook and My Space in their marketing mix to help build traffic to your website. Learning: The key is to adopt this simple “5 H’s” approach:

1. Humor
2. Honesty
3. Have fun
4. Help people

Works for me!

Being Multichannel
Speaking of channels, take a look at this thought-provoking post from Kevin Hillstrom. He talks about how difficult it can be for marketers who practice in a variety of channels to truly dominate any one given channel. His advice (paraphrased by me, of course): focus on the customer and deliver the content and useful information that the customer needs. Make it easy for the customer to find you and figure out ways to ‘pull’ the customer to you as opposed to pushing tons of messages to her.

What went wrong with the market…
As a businessperson who’s worked with the mortgage industry (yikes!) throughout all of my years of marketing, this post by Sandeep Giri hit a tad too close to home. He’s provided a tongue in cheek explanation of today’s current economic woes. Check it out for a laugh (and maybe some cries, too).

Now Be a Ninja!
For those of you out there who religiously measure your blog with Google Analytics, you’ll appreciate this information from Avinash Kaushik. He explains some new releases from Google, including their advanced segmentation. I’ll definitely take the time to explore these new features.