Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 1 Communications: A Guide to Achieving Higher Impact Annual Educational Conference State University of New York Council for University Advancement June 15, 2006

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 2 Remember 8 tips about the Internet… People are impatient

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 3 We know this about Internet readers… People scan first, read afterwards… They are very impatient… You have to capture their attention immediately

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 4 Impatience demands brevity…. “Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.” I must go to sea when: –I'm depressed or melancholy –I stop in front of coffin warehouses –I follow funerals –I have a powerful urge to knock people's hats off With thanks to Brian Niles, TargetX

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 5 The marketing power of … is person-to-person contact that establishes & maintains relationships –It creates a circle from your website to your audience and back to your website if content is of interest People thus engaged are more likely to take the “desired action step” at the appropriate time

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 6 Today, is still very popular… 90 percent of Internet users are users… Communicating effectively is essential

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 7 RSS as an alternative to … Less than 10 percent of Internet users subscribe to RSS information feeds… RSS isn’t replacing anytime soon… Each will have a role in the communication mix

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 8 8 Practical Tips for Set Up

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 9 Practical set up tip… For in-house list, use your brand name in the subject… You want instant recognition in the mailbox

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 10 Practical set up tip… For a purchased list, try to use the name to which the recipient gave permission… The recipient might recognize that name

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 11 Practical set up tip… Make sure links are clickable… The last thing you should do before sending… Don’t ever skip this step

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 12 Practical set up tip… Make the “Opt-out” method clear… At the end of your

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 13 Practical set up tip… Key text message in no more than 5-6 lines… Bullet points for critical points from subject line… Review the subject line after writing the message

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 14 Practical set up tip… Remember the preview window… Nearly 50% of people with a window use it to decide whether or not to open an … This makes the first sentence critical

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 15 Practical set up tip… Give people a choice between HTML and plain text… Remain wary of images and rich media… Don’t distract people from your main message

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 16 HTML in newsletter and …

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 17 88% Higher Click-through

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 18 How long should it be? No fixed answer… Can be four typed pages in a Word document… Can be a single page… Should be more than headlines and links to a website

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 19 Create an newsletter strategy… Don’t do a newsletter “just because”… Have reasonable expectations… Stay in touch with your audience… Monitor what people click through to adjust content

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 20 Answer these questions… Why am I doing this? Who am I writing to? What am I writing about? What voice will I use? Michael Katz, Blue Penguin Development, Inc. Can I do this at least once a month? –Once a week isn’t too often, if… Bob Johnson

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 21 Why am I doing this? To cultivate a long-term relationship To create top-of-mind presence when a reader is ready to take an action: –Enroll in a continuing education course –Apply for a master’s degree –Recommend a college to a friend or co-worker –Respond to an annual fund solicitation by mail or phone

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 22 Who am I writing to? Audience quality is more important than size –Strive for a loyal following of reasonable size Most important audiences are related to –Enrollment –Fund raising –Alumni participation –Media coverage Most audiences require “versioning” for highest impact –New “version” doesn’t require a 100% new newsletter

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 23 What am I writing about? Content has to attract the audience –Useful –Relevant –Interesting Test conventional wisdom with audience research Don’t worry overly much about each individual item in the newsletter –But track click through for popular items –Let popularity influence content decisions

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 24 How will you know if it works? From the TargetX experience… House Files Rented Files Bouncebacks1-2%10-15% Opened/Viewed>40%>20% Click-Throughs>10%2-7% Opt-Outs0.5-1%0.5-1% Conversions is one of many activities

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 25 Examples for review… only… newsletters

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 26

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 27

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 28

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 29

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 30

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 31

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 32

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 33 The HTML/website alternative…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 34 For ongoing expertise …

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 35

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 36

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 37

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 38 Thank You! Bob Johnson, Ph.D. President and Senior Consultant Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 226 Chauncey Court Marshall, MI (mobile)