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Email The Register Of Ecommerce
Email out performed all other channels when I was an Ecom director. Email contributed more margin to the bottom line and was the cash register of other "lost leader" channels such as PPC. 

Email also creates important diversification. People on YOUR list put you in control at least as far as you don't irritate or spam. If more than a tiny group on your list complains you are marketing insensitive to their needs (spamming in other words) and your ISP will black ball your website and it can be hellish to get off. 

Email As Mobile Life Curator
Email marketing is not without its new challenges. Batch and blast the same message means conversion will go down as spam complaints go up. Email's role is changing with the dominance of smart phones.

Smart phones and pads are the easiest way to manage emails. Email deletion is easiest on mobile and mobile fills up the free time of waiting in lines and sitting on the subway. Wonder why your open rates are going DOWN? A: Smart phones. 

All of this means you need personas and segments AND responsive emails in your email marketing these days. You MUST create relevant messages. Use personas, fully articulated archetypes for between 3 and 7 "super groups" within your list. 

Know what segments within your list such as "multi-buyers" or VIPs are the most profitable. Combine personas, which THEY ARE with your financial segments what THEY MEAN to you to create campaigns that will appeal to THEM and make money for YOU. 

Email Marketing In Mobile World Tips
* Subject Line is beyond important.

* Create responsive email (email must look great on all devices).  

* Use PERSONAS and SEGMENTS together.

* Tell STORIES over TIME.

* Curate User Generated Content INTO your email marketing.

* Count and trend unopens as a NO.

* Create & Trend new KPIs such as $ / sent, $ / opens.

* Keep emails OFF your website (dupe content and hurt heuristics).

This last bullet needs some explanation. Your email marketing needs a "can't see this email view it here" link, but keep your creative in a NON-SPIDERED folder.

Allowing your emails to get spidered can cause duplicate content problems and the heuristics of your emails don't help since, if you are creating great Call To Action emails, your audience will not spend much time on your emails as they are simply attention getter pass through to points of conversion. 

Everything is in the commons now. 

UCA is going to be a key Ecom concept. 

http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2013/01/10-brilliant-marketing-lessons-from-the-best-of-ces-2013.html

When I wrote about the content linked above about how to disrupt I promised to share examples. Here are 5 examples of disruption in practice:

1. Disrupt At Trade Shows Such As CES
http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2013/01/10-brilliant-marketing-lessons-from-the-best-of-ces-2013.html

That is an excellent article about how cool products in poorly designed booths were ignored at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Trade Shows are DARWINIAN. Seth Godin had a great explanation for why you buy more booth space than you can afford - because of how it LOOKS.

Design is only HALF the disruption. The other half comes from having the courage to spend money without being able to fully know if there is ROI. One thing the people in empty booths know is it is better to be busy.

2. Whirlpool Teaches To Disrupt
In the same article is a great example of an old brand that gets it. Whirlpool didn't just recreate their graphics they explained their process. Read the great book HOW: Why How You Do Anything Means Everything by Dov Seidman.

Dov explains that in a fast, flat, connected time the only unique thing your company or brand truly "owns" is your business processes. Teaching is an exciting way to disrupt, but never ONLY teach. Make sure you are listening too (see #3).

3. Listen To Disrupt Scoop.it Learns FAST
I love Scoop.it. Two upgrades ago Scoop.it removed some beloved and ingenious features. I led a little revolt complaining about not being included. First victory was how well Guillaume and his team listened and how quickly they pivoted returning our lost features. All was good and then it was time for the next big change.

This time Scoop.it released their changes to a handful of advocates and loyal Scoop.it users. The Scoop.it team listened so well they changed on the fly AND changed their roll out process. Well done Scoop.it and that are listening to disrupt.

4. Gold Miners Use UGC & Wisdom of Crowds To Disrupt

Canada's GoldCorp did the unthinkable in the gold mining business when they made normally secret data with the world. The result? GoldCorp is now Canada's largest mining company after crowd wisdom tuned their data to find more than $3B in "new gold" with very low exploration costs. More than simply applying new eyes GoldCorp's contest prompted creation of new visualizations and content (User Generated Content) showing where and why there was gold in previously un-mined belts.

5. NewsJack The Media To Disrupt

Read David Meerman Scott's New Rules of Marketing and PR and NewsJacking to learn how to play your marketing on top of trends brewing in the media. My favorite example is the casino that garnered millions in free PR when they banned bad girl Lindsay Lohan from their casino.

Curious about my previous article on how to develop disruptive business processes? Learn more: http://scenttrail.blogspot.com/2013/01/5-ways-to-disrupt-your-internet.html

Gamification, the art and science of applying game theory to online marketing, is HOT. The world Google Trends graph above confirms interest is high and getting higher. The steepness of the curve maybe its most impressive accomplishment.

Why Is Gamification So Hot
It is hard to think of any Internet marketing that can't be made better with gamification? The curve became very steep as Google began twisting our SEO fates with Panda updates. There is a correlation.

Google's new algorithm cherishes heuristic measures such as time on site, return visitors and pages viewed. Nothing tickles those metrics better than gamification. What is gamification?

Gamification, when applied to Internet marketing contains these components:

* A game with an objective measure, some "material" gains.

* A leaderboard that compares progress in the game.

* Small gains leading to bigger gains.

* A reward system easy to communicate across social nets.

* A game within the game.

* A social horse race.

Material Gain

Klout is a good example of "material" gain. As one's Klout score increases by making waves on the social net "material" gain is realized. For now we will overlook the circular nature of the rewards system (the primary benefit of your Klout score going up is your Klout score going up) and leave an upward swing as "material gain".

Leaderboard
Scoop.it's My Community is a great example of a perfectly conceived and executed leaderboard. Your track isn't against the top of the stack since seeing Robin Good or Michele Smorgon (@maxOz) visitor counts would be de-motivating. In fact, Scoop.it started with My Community that shared the top of the leaderboard before changing to just a Scooper's immediate competitive set (much more motivating).

Small Gains
Small gains are always the stepping-stones to bigger gains. The nature of a well-constructed game is the reward system never stops but does ratchet up the more it is played. This ability to slide rewards with play creates a cocaine-like addiction. It is no mistake that the leading troll on Reddit explained his self-destructive behavior as, "I did it for the points," as if anyone should understand his addiction.

The interview, not a Reddit player looked at the man as if he was insane. Reddit's gamification was both means and end and the reinforcement came so fast and furious this man was overwhelmed to the extent his life is in ruins from chasing "points". 

Social Points
Klout and GetGlue are good about prompting sharing of achievement across social network. Sharing reinforces the gain and sells the game.

Game Within The Game
On Scoop.it the daily game is views and the game within the game is views against your immediate competitive set as expressed in My Community. On a workout site the most pushups or greatest weight loss can be games within games. Games within games are wheels that increase engagement. Players who play the game within the game are twice hooked and may be the games greatest advocates.

Social Horse Race
The most valuable competitions are close ones. There is something in human nature that wants to root for the underdog that wants the thrill of victory. We care more about races when they are close, so gamification designers must find ways to insure competition. Scoop.it insured competition when they changed from top of the stack My Community to allowing each player to see their competitive set. If one or a few players run off and leave the pack the game must be reformed to promote competition or it won't endure.

Other Resources
I wrote what may be the first gamification white paper for Atlantic BT last year:

Gamification: Winning Hearts Minds and Loyalty Online

Gamification Summit in SF April 2013

Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal

The social tsunami is here bringing a need for speed and less brand control. The Social Patient is about how health care providers can surf the social media wave instead of being drowned by it. 

(From the article): This ScentTrail Marketing piece on how social media marketing is changing health care is not about a place. The Social Patient is about an attitude, a dangerous attitude. It is NOT an attitude health care providers don't know about. What most health care providers are unaware of is the size and speed of The Social Patient tsunami that is hitting now.

I sometime write long sentences; so when I saw these tips about the elimination of STOP words, I had to Scoop this.

Meme Marketing Can WIN or HURT
This post is a little fast and loose with their definition of a "meme". When Richard Dawkins coined the term he had something more robust than cultural ephemera in mind. 

The use of Nirvana's lyric is not what made Nirvana a meme. Nirvana came to represent a tribe of angry disaffected youth raised on irony and lied to repeatedly by authority figures from parents to politicians. Trying to tease art from inspiration is a fool's errand, so Nirvana and Kurt Cobain became archetypes representing a movement and a tribe.

The author may be fuzzy on what a meme is, but they have the viral power of memes just right. Memes live to do one thing - transfer cultural ideas. Think of the May Fly who lives for a single day. Memes live for as long as the act of transfer is met with ever increasing amounts of transfer. 

Meme Creation Tips

* Keep ideas simple.

* New Via Known - Use Made To Stick idea and connect NEW ideas to familiar (think of the duct tape on the book's cover) ones. 

* As Memes go sideways tweak YOUR messaging. 

* If Meme is WRONG stop feeding it (and hope others follow your lead).

* NEVER fight a meme. 

The reason you don't fight a meme is TO FIGHT is to add transfer energy. The more you attempt to restate the more ingrained the meme becomes. If your meme goes so sideways it is dead wrong STOP FEEDING IT. 

Often if the originator of a meme stops the feed it will slowly die. Note the use of "slowly". if your boss says they want that fixed tell them sure no problem and DO NOTHING. Do anything and you increase your problem. 

Memes vs. Cultural Ephemera
Memes have more backbone than cultural ephemera. Dawkins "Selfish Gene" idea is an example of a meme with powerful reach and robustness. Despite many leading authors including Wright (NonZero), Benkler (Penguin and Leviathan) and Shermer (Mind of the Market) the concept of man's innate selfishness is a strong meme. 

Dawkins must appreciate the irony since the book he wrote in 1976 The Selfish Gene that created or reinforced or given name to the "selfish man" meme doesn't say man is innately selfish. In fact, The Selfish Gene has a detailed discussion of The Prisoner's Dilemma where competitive collaboration is discussed. 

This misinterpretation brings up an important point. Memes transfer ideas FOR THE PURPOSE OF TRANSFER not accuracy. Expect your meme marketing to go a little sideways when exposed to the world. The smart move, when your memes go a little sideways, is to adjust your messaging to be consistent with how the meme has stripped your ideas down for transfer. 

If this is starting to sound like playing the MEME SEO game can be a tad dangerous you win a cookie. Just as Dawkins's amazing title created its own meme that was only partially related to his book your memes will take on a life of their own. 

Summary
BE CAREFUL with "Meme Marketing" and respect the power of the mob and you can WIN big as the author of this post shares. Memes are LIVE AMMUNITION so think about your end goals and test ways your memes will go sideways. If you can't live with a meme going sideways DON'T CREATE MEME MARKETING. 

David Meerman Scott writes how to ride fast breaking cultural ephemera and memes to your marketing advantage in The New Rules Of Marketing and PR and NewsJacking.  

3 Things You Can't Know, Until You Know
Apparently I've entered that "professor emeritus" space that befalls all Ecommerce Directors as they age (lol). Before I link off into the sunset here are three things I could have told you back when I was an Ecom director only on pain of death (yours or mine :). 

1.  Internet Marketing Isn't What You think
I wrote a piece about how misinformed most people are about what Internet marketing IS:

http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/why-internet-marketing-isnt-what-you-think-it-is/  

Internet marketing is the extension, amplification and feedback loop every marketer depends on. For every moment you obsess about look and feel you lose money because THEY (your customers) will tell you everything you need to know if you only LISTEN. 

Oh, and make sure you LISTEN to Google too. Good to do what the KING tells you to do WHEN she tells you too. 

2. Everything Balances and Dances Until There Is A Wobble
Metrics are tied to each other. When your traffic goes up chances are your bounce rate will inch up too. When your time on site goes up because you've created great gamification or video marketing your SEO gets easier, you generate more Facebook LIKES and life is good. 

Then there is a wobble. 

Wobbles are inevitable so staying calm and carrying on no matter how severe the wobble is the only way to be an Internet marketer (otherwise you end up jumping off the roof LOL). 

Wobbles can come from Google, competitors or the war in Iraq. Death, taxes and that there will be costly wobbles in your Internet marketing future are life's new immutable truths. Your Internet marketing will dance again after a period of rehab and if you stay calm and carry on. 

3. The Secret Is There Is No Secret
I spent valuable TIME trying to find the FREE LUNCH of Internet marketing, the silver bullet, the one action that would solve all problems. Some may be able to do so, but someone wins the lottery too that doesn't mean it makes statistical SENSE (lol). 

Your best Internet marketing bet is to:

* DO THE WORK.

* LISTEN to the responses.
* Rinse and Repeat. 

The MAGIC of life and Internet marketing is in the JOURNEY not the destination no matter how rich it makes you. In the end your money goes into a trust or to your children, so what matters is what is happening NOW, this MOMENT.

If you are doing the work, no matter how "bad" you think it is, you are ahead of many. If you LISTEN you are ahead of more and if you relentlessly rinse and repeat you will be at the far right of Internet marketing's bell curve. 

Good luck to all the Supermen and Superwomen out there thinking that surely their head will explode if they have to learn one more thing (it won't) and never trusting they are really THERE (they are).

You NEVER need anything MORE than what you have as you read this. You are fully armed and ready right NOW to change the world, to change YOU. 

Do the work. Listen. Rinse and Repeat. 

Wrote this piece after having great conversations with lawyers in Raleigh about what they did and didn't understand about Internet marketing. The interesting part of thise conversations was what many of my lawyer friends thought they knew they didn't and what they thought they didn't know they weren't as far away as they thought. 

Welcome to the strange serendipity and mystery wrapped in enigma that is Internet marketing my legal brothers and sisters.  

Realized a couple of things today about social process, about how to start small and build. Not the way I would do it, I'm all in, but all in freaks people out.

Testing and pilot programs allow the perception of incremental acceptance. Which would you rather do? Jump into a cold lake or ease your way into it? I'm a jumper but respect people who must ease in too (don't understand, but have empathy for LOL).

Now that the content marketing sale has been made there are new ideas you and your Internet marketing team can use to become a disruptive content marketer. Why? Because disrupt or die :).