July 2012  |  Vol. 3 Issue 4  CONNECT

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
Delivering True Content With eBulletins

  An interview with Gary Robbins
Partner, Integrated Marketing Solutions,

By Frank Smith, Managing Editor, eBulletins
Frost & Sullivan



Frost & Sullivan’s integrated marketing campaign guru, Gary Robbins, has been consulting with global organizations like McKesson, HP, Microsoft, and OpenText to successfully launch new services to their respective marketplace while driving forward significant amounts of demand generation and business development. Gary recently caught up with Frost & Sullivan’s eBulletin editor, Frank Smith, about the importance of an opt-in subscriber base, common pitfalls to avoid and why an eBulletin is just one piece of the puzzle.


Frank Smith: A marketing team has many channels by which to connect with its customers. Can you tell me what’s unique about a newsletter?

Gary Robbins: Times have changed. The number of resources available to find answers to questions is increasing every day. As a result, every individual will discover their own preferred method to attain and retain this information so the importance of leveraging multiple channels to introduce, reinforce, and solidify your message in the marketplace has never been more critical. An eBulletin represents one of the most credible channels a company can employ. One of the key benefits to the eBulletin is its shelf life. Unlike its predecessor, which was thrown into a trash bin after it was leafed through, an eBulletin lives indefinitely online. Previous versions can be archived, re-purposed, cross-marketed, and regenerated. But for any eBulletin to be successful it must offer true content with real value to the audience at stake. Without that, you will have no readership.

FS: Can you elaborate on that? What type of content provides readers with the most value?

GR: The content must be targeted and by that I mean targeted to a reader’s relevant position within their company. It must talk to them and affect them personally. Articles of value will provide readers with takeaways that can be implemented and turned into action in real time. So, the article should not just relay theory or concepts, but focus on strategies that they can be employed today. Case studies are also important to include. These types of articles will provide the readership some first-hand examples of what their peers have experienced which would include the challenges, pain points, and success stories.

FS:  Since an eBulletin is ultimately being managed by the marketing department, how do you ensure that an eBulletin is being perceived to have real thought leadership and real best practices, rather than just a marketing piece?

GR: I believe for an online newsletter to be credible, it must both, leverage a third party and be positioned as a piece to be subscribed to (versus being blasted as marketing). Many companies today are investing a great deal of money and time into producing their own newsletters. If the purpose of this newsletter is to educate their current clients, well, it’s likely serving its purpose. However, if the newsletter was created to help inform prospects and the marketplace, I doubt it’s meeting expectations. Establishing credibility starts with source of the newsletter originator. If the newsletter is written, produced, and distributed by the company who is standing to gain by its content, it will be very difficult for that organization to avoid the perception that this piece is nothing more than marketing propaganda. Newsletters are hard work. Find a credible third party and latch on. The results will be much more satisfying.

Once you’ve identified your third party partner, make sure they are sending to subscribers. Subscribers want this information and the open rates reflect that. In comparison to a marketing piece which could generate a less than 1% open rate, Frost & Sullivan’s eBulletins have garnered an average open rate in the neighborhood of up to 30%. But subscribers will only stay subscribers if you continue providing real content, real value.

FS: If the eBulletins are focused on content, where is the value for the advertiser?

GR: While the focus of the eBulletin is content, there is very much a promotional aspect to an eBulletin as well. We separate eBulletins into two distinct sections: Two-thirds of the page is dedicated to content in the form of articles and interactive surveys, and one-third of the page, the left-hand column, provides a space to promote whatever the client wants, whether it’s a new product coming out, a series of events they are participating at, or other services that Frost & Sullivan provides as a part of an integrated marketing campaign (White Papers, eBroadcasts, Road Shows, and more). In addition, all advertisers will have the opportunity to submit an article.

FS: You mentioned the idea of the integrated marketing campaign. Can you explain a little bit how an eBulletin works as part of the campaign? What is its relationship with the other components? How do they interact with each other?

GR: We believe the eBulletin to be the glue of any campaign because of its high open rates and unique ability to bring all of the different components together. It allows us to broadcast our client’s thought leadership and take advantage of a virtual canvas to promote the complimentary elements of the integrated campaign.

FS: What would you say are the different types of eBulletins out there? How customizable is an eBulletin, really?

GR: The eBulletins that we offer vary based on the needs or the objectives of a particular client and are completely customizable. At Frost & Sullivan, we have three unique offerings. You can advertise in an existing eBulletin with a current subscriber base or customize or personalize an eBulletin for your own database. The companies that choose to customize or personalize as part of their integrated marketing campaign can choose to focus on their own services or the campaign brand itself.

FS: Let’s say that a marketing team decides to launch a newsletter. The first step then is you have to figure out what you’re going to call it. How do you decide what makes a good name?

GR:  What makes a good name is something that can speak to the clientele you’re reaching out to. So again, you have two different options with an eBulletin. If you’re doing a full integrated marketing campaign, you’re going to be looking at an eBulletin that supports and reinforces the campaign name. But if you’re looking for something that supports or promotes your organization, then the message you want to put in the title of your eBulletin should reflect how your solutions support your readership At the end of the day, it’s all about the client, and I’m not referring to the company that contracted for the newsletter, but I’m speaking about their clientele, the end-users, the reader of the eBulletin. You have to pull something out that will allow them to identify with that name and really focus on that fear and greed factor: the fear of not having this information, the greed of attaining these new strategies.

FS: That’s a good start. As you would move into the actual development of the newsletter, what should a marketing team be conscious to avoid? Are there any common pitfalls you’ve encountered?

GR: As I mentioned before, whether it’s IBM or Microsoft, or whoever, one of the greatest challenges for any organization putting out a newsletter is credibility. When a newsletter is distributed by an organization, it’s impossible to avoid the black cloud of a sales pitch. And one of the benefits of working with a company like Frost & Sullivan — whether it’s to attach your name to our current eBulletins, or leverage Frost & Sullivan to build a custom eBulletin — is the ability to bring a credible message to your target market. So, while the intentions are always very good when a company releases their own newsletter, more times than not, they’re really just serving their current clients, versus educating prospects or building a perspective pipeline.

FS: But if the newsletter is subscription based, how you do connect with new subscribers to build that pipeline? How would a company then start culling that larger subscription?

GR:  I never look at a newsletter as a stand-alone vehicle. It’s just one piece of the puzzle of the overall campaign. While an eBulletin has some of its own direct demand-generation aspects, which will provide leads; it is certainly not the driving force behind contracting for an eBulletin. However, an eBulletin is going to provide another vehicle to promote some of the other direct demand-generation pieces which in turn, will play an integral role in building up the existing readership for your newsletter.

FS: So what you’re saying is in symphony with these other components of an integrated marketing campaign, you’ll be able to opt-in new subscribers and build up that subscription base?

GR: Exactly. Again this is just one piece, and should be leveraged as one piece of an overall campaign.


 

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