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Sleek and chic – how can you not love the new Intuos4 tablet from Wacom.  Very psyched how this integrated campaign turned out.  For all the marketers reading this blog post, there are some really good insights to this case study.

Wacom Technology Corporation worked with eROI to launch their brand new product, the Intuos4.  As you will find out, it is more than just a sleek site.  This case study outlines the integrated online strategy used by Wacom, including results of the multi-pronged campaign; email, microsite, and offline channels working together to seamlessly promote the unique aspects of the new Intuos4 tablet.

Check out the finished site »

“We’re absolutely happy with the number of visitors. We believe we’ve received a 70% awareness of our target audience. I mean, that’s really good. Not many companies are going to achieve that kind of awareness for a new product launch.”

~ Marketing Director, Wacom

Download the Case Study

Today is a good day
New client project kickoffs and
Online software innovation goodness

Better yet, a sun break appears
and Old Town Portland
is a beacon of light again.

Being the giver that I am, I was sure to pass on my family traditions to my eROI family.  Thus began the institution of the birthday email.  Even though every employee is guaranteed to get a card late, I made sure that these mild affronts showed up right on time.

Below are a few of the highlights throughout the year.  I hope I don’t lose friends over this.

Our fearless leader in a stylish ’stache.  Click here for the real thing.

VP of Products, going to his version of The Dark Side.

Our controller, she is known to party with rock stars from time to time ;)

Senior Account Executive may be his day job title but at night he is at the DJ Booth spinning for Homeless Panda.

Always put together Director of Account Services, St Tropez style.

And as an update for all of you waiting with bated breath about the fate of the dishwasher.  Yesterday we officially got a new one.  It’s time to put the Mom Jeans away.

Here at eROI not only have we been helping our clients understand how online marketing can be utilized to improve their Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) efforts, but in planning for 2010 we are examining our own efforts in this area and are determining how we can improve upon them. I’m excited to go through this process as I know what a win-win it will be for all of our agency/client relationships. Developing a better understanding of what stage our clients (and potential clients) are at in their lifecycle with us will go beyond informing our marketing efforts and affecting our profitability, it will help us be a better partner and continuously improve upon their satisfaction.

A few months back, while planning revisions to our sales cycle, we recognized the opportunity to look beyond the initial sales stage and take a closer look at how we were participating in the entire lifecycle of our customers.  I use the word “participating” because it’s important to remember that we don’t control our client’s movement through the cycle – the client ultimately makes the decisions about when to begin a relationship, how involved in the relationship they want to be and when to end it. All we can do is influence and be responsive to those decisions. When examining the most successful agency/client relationships, the most common denominator seems to be that they are fluid. There is valued collaboration. The agency has put in the effort know and understand the clients brand, business model, needs and goals so well that they are able to present work and ideas that not only meet expectation, but go well beyond them. There is open and continual communication. There is respect for the client’s needs, and in turn for the agency’s process. There is trust. There is ongoing mindsharing and idea flow.  There is a true partnership.

Achieving this “fluidity” doesn’t come instantly, it takes a lot to build a relationship to that level and, although the effort needs to come from both sides, there are many steps that an agency can take to help bring it to that point. This is where CLM can help.

At eROI we classify clients and potential clients in to one of these 5 general categories:

1. Prospects – those people in our target market.
2. Leads – Prospects who have shown interest in us.
3. Active Customers – those who are currently using our products or agency services.
4. Inactive Customers – those who have not worked on a project with us in over a year.
5. Former Customers – those who have canceled their product contracts or have not used our agency services in over 2 years.

Each category requires a different type of communication and tone of messaging. And not just from Marketing– it’s imperative that an integrated communication approach be adopted by all who interact with the client (or potential client) – including Sales, Account Services, Support & Training, Accounting, even the Creative teams. No matter who in the agency they are interacting with, every client should feel valued (because they are!), they should feel that you, as an agency, understand them and are listening to what’s important to them.

When planning a Customer Lifecycle Program you need look at it in stages. Each stage requires it own strategy of specific actions and communication approach. There are varying titles out there for these stages but within our strategy we refer to them as:

• Acquisition – The process turning Prospects into Leads.
• Activation- The process of turning Leads in to Clients.
• Relationship Management – The process of building, maintaining and growing our relationship with Active Customers.
• Retention – The process of trying to reengage in a relationship with Inactive Clients.
• Reactivation – The process of trying to reengage in a relationship with Former Clients.

Every business has a unique target market and customer base making the specifics of what’s involved in managing each of these stages unique to that business. No matter what your business though, the underlying strategy of Customer Lifecycle Management is the same – do all you can to understand what, when, how and why a customer wants to be communicated with, keep a good account of that information and use it strategically within the various stages of the Life Cycle to help grow your relationship with them.

There are a lot of recourses available that can help you develop a CLM strategy that’s right for your business, and my team at eROI would be happy to work with you on ways in which you can incorporate online marketing into that strategy (see our VP of Strategy, Dylan Boyd’s post on the topic).

As you begin your research and planning, it can easily get overwhelming – know that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing right away, you can take a gradual approach. Start by setting some goals that will help build the foundation of your strategy. For example, here are a few top-line goals that we have set for the upcoming year:

• GOAL 1: Profile current and potential client behavior more closely.
• GOAL 2: Regularly create new value-added resources to share.
• GOAL 3: More proactively ask for client satisfaction feedback.
• GOAL 4: Work as an agency to develop a more integrated client communication approach across all departments.

Customer Lifecycle Management can be complex and requires long-term strategic planning, but it’s certainly worth the effort. Sure you will see an improvement in your bottom line, but above that you will be building the type of long-term, fluid agency/client relationships that all agencies strive for.

One of our Web Developers, Christine, busted out the production on both the email and the event.  The result is a Halloween art piece brought to life.

It seems there are a couple things that don’t line up with the lawsuit.  First of all, the lawyers who represent Toyota asserted that there was a confirmed opt-in process that Duick admitted that she committed to at the initial outset of the series of Toyota campaign emails that she received.   The article didn’t mention whether or not there was an unsubscribe link and physical address in each email (CAN-Spam compliance), as Toyota  and Saatchi & Saatchi may have taken the position that those elements in the email would have detracted from the authenticity of this fake campaign (not sure I’ve ever written “authenticity and fake” in the same sentence where it actually kind of made sense).

If there was an easy opt-out on each and every email, which would make you think either this is the most privacy concerned criminal ever encountered, then there isn’t even a glimmer of hope that Duick could win her case.  As is, Toyota has an overwhelmingly solid legal argument based on her written consent in opt-in.

What could have been done differently?

Obviously a neurotic Los Angeles woman wasn’t their target audience, so how could she have been engaged while not being “terrified?”  List segmentation could have been used to “check in” on consumers not fitting the targeted demographic.  Toyota could have even segmented women from men and had an extra question or check in to make sure their campaign would be received with the appropriate response.  Another idea would be to just make the product a little more blatantly obvious so you know you are interacting with a brand but you are still having fun.  Finding a balance between really creative and fun with responsible marketing is key.

As fun as it was, the site could do a better job of lead capture by telling you what you get for signing up – making it more compelling.  It promised to enter me into a drawing for an X-Box 360 but the details were sparse and the questions they asked seemed somewhat irrelevant.

The most obvious dilemma I saw with The Prototype Experience is the issue of privacy.  In a matter of minutes I saw everything from my work information and political views to a family photo pop up on the screen.  Even though that information was willfully put on the internet by me it made me think more about how entirely accessible our lives have become.  As a marketer the more information I can capture the better, as a web user I just need to be aware that there is very little privacy anymore and just accept it.  All in all, this site is really engaging and, well, uber-cool.

Being at the right place at the right time is IRRELEVANT.  Jim’s urging to the entrepreneurial crowd got his message across loud and clear – that the tough economic storm can NOT be an excuse for everything that ails you. We, as entrepreneurs, have control of our own destinies and our own company’s destiny.  It’s up to us to dig deep and build great, enduring companies over the next 15+ years.

I learned a lot from reading his book, but one story that cemented in my brain was what Collins called the Jim Stockdale Paradox. Admiral Stockdale was a Vietnam prisoner of war. When Collins asked him about how he made it through years of isolation and torture, Stockdale responded that he had unwavering faith that he’d get out but was still keenly aware of the brutal journey and circumstances in front of him.  Collins then asked who didn’t make it. Stockdale responded “the optimists.” Stockdale proceeded to explain that the optimists died of a broken heart because they always put a time-table on when they’d be released – by Christmas, by Easter, by end of July and so on.  The lesson is to believe in your path for the long haul and don’t let short-term setbacks deter you from your cause.

Last thing that really stuck with me was the leadership success factor of humility and making your mission all about the company in every way, not about yourself. Many of the most successful leaders like Anne Mulcahy of Xerox repeatedly turned down interviews and coverage of most of the top publications as she focused internally to clean up a nearly disastrous cash situation at Xerox and attributed the success to everyone else but herself.  Collins showed example after example of leaders of great companies who did this AND similar great companies with new leaders who didn’t instill that “it’s all about the company cause” mentality and those companies started their decline and ultimately fell from greatness.

One more photo from Gaylord resort in wash dc. Schwanky. http://yfrog.com/16vonyj 5:57 PM Sep 23rd from Tweetie

#inc5000 conf starting now. Largest attendance ever at 1,700 of us. Aggregate rev of $214 billion http://yfrog.com/0nxn1jj 6:14 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Tony hsieh of zappos.com about to keynote on topic of the science of happiness. Transformative to hear it at #sxsw. Now at #inc5000  6:20 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

@zapposceo telling story of pizza co to online advertising to investing in startups, bored with investing, took on CEO role at zappos  6:25 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

All about customer service. Marketing dollars mainly go to cust svce so customers spread love via word of mouth  6:28 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

@zappos did over $1 billion last year. All about delivering wow. Lots of surprise overnight ups upgrades. Package shows up 8 hrs later  6:31 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

50% of performance review is about fit with company culture and values @zappos  6:33 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Zappos is about delivering happiness in a box to employees and customers. Core values shouldbe something you base hiring and firing  6:39 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Luck is about being open to new opportunities  6:40 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Book recomendation- Tribal Leadership  6:43 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

The big question: what is your goal in life? Ultimately to be happy and fulfilled  6:50 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Perceived control, progress, connectedness, vision and meaning  6:56 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Zappos.com Tony Hsieh @zappos says you can email him for the pres but you can DL it from inc500conference.com next week (via @IncEvents)  6:58 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Randall grahm describes how everyone told him not to do wine cafe in his vineyard but he did it. Great intimate connections with customers  7:21 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Robert Johnson who sold BET for $3 billion a few years ago. Speaking about what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur  7:23 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

#inc500 Robert Johnson talks about a cool concept in philanthropy called clubcharity.com  8:48 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

#inc500 panel innovation: fostering it, managing it, profiting from it. David freedman moderator  8:51 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Founders of Emotiv, Atari, chuckie cheeses, and Heartland Robotics #inc500. Excited for this innovation panel  8:54 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

So many innovative projects fail because people fall into trap of taking negative feedback from nearly everyone because couldn’t visualize  9:05 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Panel pic Nolan says politics is the killer of innovation. So easy to say no. Need to breed rebels http://yfrog.com/0git2hj  9:27 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Without a champion, ideas are worthless. Need to share ideas openly because it’s all about implementation  9:39 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Ian and cal with Wexley School for Girls on stage now. Old agency model is dead.  11:50 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Don’t worry first about Twitter or facebook or radio buy. Worry about spending 90% energy on the idea  11:54 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

#inc500 Ian and cal showing short film winner take steve. Classic. Not sure if random humor lost on this crowd. Regardless, great stuff  11:59 AM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Scott Griffith of Zipcar tells a story of transformation #inc500 http://yfrog.com/0snpbj 12:02 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Zipcar transformation all about turning a political movement into a big company. Car sharing really gaining steam #inc500  12:05 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Bob williamson describes a really rough first 24 years of life, then went on to start 9 companies, sold Horizon software for $75M  1:37 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

#inc500 williamson got started at the bottom in the paint industry. Alcholic and drug addict. Credits his success to faith and work ethic  1:40 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Life is like a ping pong ball. It goes up and down. Williamson. #inc500  1:42 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Jill Strahan of Tastefully Simple advice: just start, know where you’re going, don’t stop. #inc500  1:53 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Share your dream with your customers. For Jill, it was being as large as pampered chef. Dream it. Believe it. Work it.  1:56 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Fear is the gatekeeper to strength. It’s like building muscle. Rip it down, then grows stronger after day of rest. Repeat.  1:59 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

The soul will not show us what we cannot handle. Jill Strahan. #inc500  2:00 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Hang out with the sunshine people  2:02 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Listening to Herman chinery-Hesse, the bill gates of Ghana. Many ghanians didn’t believe it was possible to start software co there  2:09 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

Herman started with small business clients. Some told him to go to hell. He proved the biz model and grew fast with multinational orgs  2:11 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie

@mark_lawler thx holmes. Definitely getting inspired and learning a lot @inc500  2:13 PM Sep 24th from Tweetie in reply to mark_lawler

#inc500 Jim Collins dynamically takes the stage. How to thrive in these crazy times http://yfrog.com/0hvjlj  5:52 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

Jim Collins is so engaging that I can’t tweet fast enough. I will blog it later  6:01 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

Jim Collins – best presenter I’ve ever seen. Wow. Hugely relevant and powerful conversation with this passionate audience #inc500   7:23 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

What is the secret to success? What is your definition? Barry Griswell, the adversity paradox, Principal Group CEO. #inc500  7:31 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

Adversity is like a crucible. Going thru it often builds character. The adversity paradox – self accountability, be positive, and then some  7:34 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

Who you are matters most. No substitute for hard work. Purpose takes the work out of work.  7:40 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

The power of knowledge and lifetime learning is transforming. A mirror is the most important tool. Introspection  7:44 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

David Neeleman, founder of jet blue airways and CEO of Azul now takes the stage #inc500  8:17 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

Jet blue was founded to be a customer service company. Key is flawless execution. David emailed all customers to apologize for 6 min wait  8:25 AM Sep 25th from Tweetie

Your people need to love, absolutely adore where they work. Takes enormous amount of focus on culture to create employee evangelists

Customers feel that tangible element of employees loving that company

Make it right with the customer even if it’s more expensive to fix the mistake to keep the loyalty there

The 6 hour delay on icy NY tarmac. Jet blue got all the bad press because people expected more of jet blue. $34 million in free flights

Does your company matter? If it was plucked from the earth, who would care?

I am a Z. #inc500. Scary

Keith Ferrazzi is damn good on stage. Everyone in the room is in sales.