A former comic book geek explains what the Avengers can teach marketers on how to run a successful email marketing program. More
As most of my friends know, I'm a reformed comic book geek. Even through I've long left my Batman lunchbox, Spiderman action figure, and Saturday morning cartoons behind, I'm still looking forward to the release of the Avengers movie this week.
With that being said, I thought I'd write a short blog post to celebrate the release, so here's 5 things that the Avengers can teach us about email marketing (For all you other geeks out there, I know there's a huge roster, so I'm only going to focus on the characters in the upcoming movie).
Captain America
While I've never been a big fan--the Capt. is little too nice for me--he's undeniably the leader of the Avengers. He's not the most powerful member, but the Avengers are led by him; he has been the one mainstay throughout everything, even when the entire team roster changed in Avengers #16. He's undeniably the Avenger's guiding light.
Successful email marketing programs also need a guiding set of values and principles that resonate with their subscribers. This helps to build a community, which ultimately means subscribers look forward to your emails.
This community and its values must be protected, which can sometimes mean tough email list management choices: when the pressures on for more ROI, do we send another email without thinking about customer value or do we take a more long term view. As email marketers we need to know when to look to our values to guide our organization's actions, as Captain America does for the Avengers.
Hawkeye
A former villain turned good guy, the world's greatest archer rarely misses his mark and has a trick arrow to meet every situation. Flare arrow, explosive arrow, or smoke arrow, you name it, Hawkeye has probably shot it from his bow at some time or another. I think the most ridiculous one was the boxing glove arrow.
What does Hawkeye stand for? Pretty obvious--customer targeting, and making sure you have the right content for each target.
Ironman
While technology has always been important to Iron Man, I've always been more impressed by his ability to win the day through the use of his intelligence, like when he defeated a War Machine, who had a more technologically advanced suit of armor.
For email marketers, who have to build more complex programs and use more advanced email marketing platforms, the message is clear: sometimes it's not about the technology, but the people who are the key to success. That's why quality account management and professional services are becoming more important, as reported in Forrester Research's 2012 Email Marketing Wave.
Thor
Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow was a former Soviet spy before becoming part of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D, an international spy group. As part of these groups, she has consistently used her skills to provide intelligence that directly influenced plans.
Smart email marketers are also starting to use competitive intelligence, enabling their brand to stay on top of consumers' minds ahead of its competitors. For example, during the all-important Holiday season, Verizon could monitor AT&T's digital channels and email promotions and come up with a counter-strategy. So, if AT&T offers a discount on a certain Smartphone, Verizon could follow suit in Real-time or perhaps provide an offer that is more enticing.
The Hulk
One of the most memorable superheroes, The Hulk possesses near limitless physical strength depending on his emotional state--the angrier he gets; the more powerful he becomes. He's a great reminder that the most important thing that we have to do as marketers is to connect with consumers at an emotional level.
To help me remember this, I'm a big fan of the CURVE mnemonic (Curiosity, Urgency, Relevancy, Value, and Emotion), which was first introduced to me by Alex William's post. Alex argues that all email subject lines require at least two of these elements; however I think the same argument is applicable to all
marketing touch points.
There you go: an Avengers-inspired post. I hope you enjoyed it. Would love to hear your comments and questions, so feel free to leave a note below.
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With that being said, I thought I'd write a short blog post to celebrate the release, so here's 5 things that the Avengers can teach us about email marketing (For all you other geeks out there, I know there's a huge roster, so I'm only going to focus on the characters in the upcoming movie).
Captain America
While I've never been a big fan--the Capt. is little too nice for me--he's undeniably the leader of the Avengers. He's not the most powerful member, but the Avengers are led by him; he has been the one mainstay throughout everything, even when the entire team roster changed in Avengers #16. He's undeniably the Avenger's guiding light.Successful email marketing programs also need a guiding set of values and principles that resonate with their subscribers. This helps to build a community, which ultimately means subscribers look forward to your emails.
This community and its values must be protected, which can sometimes mean tough email list management choices: when the pressures on for more ROI, do we send another email without thinking about customer value or do we take a more long term view. As email marketers we need to know when to look to our values to guide our organization's actions, as Captain America does for the Avengers.
Hawkeye
A former villain turned good guy, the world's greatest archer rarely misses his mark and has a trick arrow to meet every situation. Flare arrow, explosive arrow, or smoke arrow, you name it, Hawkeye has probably shot it from his bow at some time or another. I think the most ridiculous one was the boxing glove arrow.What does Hawkeye stand for? Pretty obvious--customer targeting, and making sure you have the right content for each target.
Ironman
While technology has always been important to Iron Man, I've always been more impressed by his ability to win the day through the use of his intelligence, like when he defeated a War Machine, who had a more technologically advanced suit of armor.For email marketers, who have to build more complex programs and use more advanced email marketing platforms, the message is clear: sometimes it's not about the technology, but the people who are the key to success. That's why quality account management and professional services are becoming more important, as reported in Forrester Research's 2012 Email Marketing Wave.
Thor
For the Norse god of Thunder, the most valuable lesson he ever
learned was humility. Time and again, Thor has reached some sort of
pinnacle--such as becoming the ruler of Asgard (the mythical home of the Norse
gods) or rebuilding Asgard over Oklahoma (yup, that was an actual story
line)--only to be bought back to Earth (pun not intended).
Moral of the story: just because your email marketing is going well, don't assume that's all there is to it. Be ready to introduce new elements into your email campaigns and be prepared to test to see what works best. Sometimes the results are counter-intuitive, such as one test I ran where a text-only HTML email outperformed one with imagery.
Black WidowNatasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow was a former Soviet spy before becoming part of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D, an international spy group. As part of these groups, she has consistently used her skills to provide intelligence that directly influenced plans.Smart email marketers are also starting to use competitive intelligence, enabling their brand to stay on top of consumers' minds ahead of its competitors. For example, during the all-important Holiday season, Verizon could monitor AT&T's digital channels and email promotions and come up with a counter-strategy. So, if AT&T offers a discount on a certain Smartphone, Verizon could follow suit in Real-time or perhaps provide an offer that is more enticing.
The Hulk
One of the most memorable superheroes, The Hulk possesses near limitless physical strength depending on his emotional state--the angrier he gets; the more powerful he becomes. He's a great reminder that the most important thing that we have to do as marketers is to connect with consumers at an emotional level.To help me remember this, I'm a big fan of the CURVE mnemonic (Curiosity, Urgency, Relevancy, Value, and Emotion), which was first introduced to me by Alex William's post. Alex argues that all email subject lines require at least two of these elements; however I think the same argument is applicable to all
marketing touch points.
There you go: an Avengers-inspired post. I hope you enjoyed it. Would love to hear your comments and questions, so feel free to leave a note below.
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Continue reading Email marketing like the Avengers.
