CGI recently teamed up with TopSprout, a Silicon Valley marketing start-up, to support their product launch marketing efforts for CA. Both of our agencies work with CA — CGI creating the interactive media and TopSprout providing the integral strategic pieces. Help TopSprout celebrate their 1 year anniversary by visiting their blog: http://topsprout.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Miguel!

We all love the videos. Those YouTube clips that make us laugh, that we share with our friends, and then quickly forget about. With the immense amount of information we gather daily, it is hard to make something stand out unless it is supported by multiple platforms and  ideas.

Mark Earls, marketing guru, recently spoke at the 4As conference on the “Big Idea” concept. Too frequently, as marketers, we become caught up with our most recent “Big Idea.” We want something flashy, but forget that it is not just a single idea that creates long term brand awareness and, ultimately, loyal customers. Instead Mark suggests a lot of little ideas, building on each other, all to support a larger goal. This could also include cross-channel marketing techniques to carry your idea across multiple platforms that support the initiative.

Check out a clip of his speech here.

By integrating a succession of ideas, potential customers become familiarized with your product and brand instead of simply laughing and leaving. Implement a long-term process of projects that support each other across multiple platforms to build a strong, structural marketing plan.

When I was twenty years old I decided to head to Cape Cod in order to waitress for the summer. There are hundreds of restaurants on Cape Cod. However, there are hundreds of college kids heading down there for the summer. I applied to tons of different places, but my resume got lost in stacks, so I started calling. What happened, they were shocked. Digging through the resumes they had gotten they would pull mine up and thank me for calling. As a result, I got multiple jobs while some of my other friends headed down hoping their resume would be found in the stack and they would get the call.

I have not been in sales too long. I only graduated two years ago. Much of what I have learned about business success can be related back to very basic principles. The follow up is one of them.

People today are bombarded with information. Between emails, phone calls, and the information they are gathering online, it is easy for your company to get lost in the shuffle. Prospects might mean to get back to you, but the email sent yesterday won’t be seen today.

Here are some tips for “The Follow up”:

Be Brief: Although they may have missed your previous email, you don’t want to be repetitive in what you are offering. By simply referring to the previous contact it will let them know that you are invested in connecting with them and the company, while not being long winded.

Be consistent: It is easy to remember to follow up with prospects if you keep a consistent schedule of circling back. I personally allot two days to following up from either a voice mail or email. This allows the prospect time to consider your offering, is not too intrusive or too long of a lead that they forget you ever contacted them initially. By setting a generic time line, following up becomes part of a daily routine.

Offer Something New: Whether or not they have opened the previous email, they now have it within their possession and can always refer back. Instead of reiterating your previous email, offer something a little new. With my follow ups I usually send CGI’s Good Earth Link. The site is well done, interesting, and does not hard sell a product. However, its design also gives insight into CGI’s capabilities and services.

It might seem pretty basic, but too often we get pulled in different directions and forget to follow up. Although we would like to think that we have them at “hello,” sometimes a simple reminder can go a long way to starting a solid business relationship.

Last night I attended the Hill Holiday panel discussion “Integrating Social Media Across the Big Brand: The Harmony of Cross-Channel Marketing.” The panel was pulled together by the director of integrated marketing Mike Proulx and featured panel members Terry Lozoff, Sean Corcoran, Mike Spataro, Ken Peters, and Vicki Rellas. Each member of the panel discussed cross-channel marketing case studies from Best Buy and GM to Feld Entertainment and Chili’s.

Integrating social media into cross-channel marketing is not something new. Companies started doing limited campaigns to augment their larger marketing plans on Facebook and MySpace since before 2007. However, big brands are becoming more strategic in their approach to community building and using social media as a larger part of their marketing strategies.

As the panel discussed, when integrating social media strategies into your wider marketing plan, it is not just about splashing your brand across the networks, but really thinking about your consumers and the conversations you want to create. Here are a few points to keep in mind:

1. What are my goals with integrating social media into this campaign: Although there have been many arguments that social media can’t be measured, it can. When developing a plan, develop it as any other marketing strategy with benchmarks in order to gauge its success. These measurements may not be as quantitative as traditional marketing campaigns. It is important to understand that much of social media is dependent on the conversation, so qualitative measures become essential to gauging success.

2. How is traditional media supporting online efforts: New media (aka social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Blogs) cannot live without old media (aka TV, radio, and print), at least not yet. Understanding how the two mediums can compliment each other leads to greater success. Consistent branding throughout the channels gives customers a way to connect their engagement online and the advertising they see offline.

3. New media can extend traditional media plans: Suggestion, don’t get on twitter only for a campaign. The content that goes online lives online forever. This means that your customers can access it long after the commercials or billboards come down. Think about integrated social media components as a long-term community instead of a “limited life” campaign.

4. Don’t just talk, listen: Unlike traditional media buys, social media cannot simply be used as a broadcast channel. Platforms are set up to suggest engagement and conversation. Utilize this as an opportunity to not only send out messages, but also to understand how your consumers think and understand your brand.

Most of all, give people a reason to come back. If you are not finding success with social media, don’t give up. Think about your approach, tweak it, and try again. People want to talk about what they think about your product, so finding a way to allow them a space to do that can be hugely rewarding for both your marketing team and your customers.

Last year Wario created a viral video that literally “shook-up” YouTube. The video became a case studio on how companies were pushing the limits of the video platform to create a more interactive experience for the viewer. YouTube has become the most popular platform for companies to post viral videos from the Blendtec iPhone to Cadbury gorilla.

However, it appears that the platform Vimeo is about to step up its game. Released this week, the Honda Insight “Let it Shine” video is the first to take over the platform and create a more interactive experience for the viewer. Honda has worked with Vimeo to create a full page takeover in sync with the video. The piece is slick, interesting, and set to a new version of the classic children’s song.

Over the past week 88,000 people have watched the video, a number that will undoubtedly grow as word spreads about partnership between Honda and Vimeo. This will be an interesting campaign to watch to see if the video increases Vimeo’s membership as more people become exposed to it.

Would be great to hear your predictions on what kind of impact the Honda Insight video could have on Vimeo.