The Red Running man

New Blog site

2008-02-07T12:33:00.000+13:00

Yes I have finaly made the change, all blogs are now one.

Check out www.thetommygun.com for more on email marketing, sales and all that!!

Thanks

Tom

The best CRM ever!

2008-01-09T17:05:00.000+13:00

Though out my career I regularly get asked what CRM tool I use and which I prefer, over the years I have used many from Sales force to Sugar and lots of custom products, however the most successful I have found to date is my own design, its open source and available to all, not only that it is completely scalable.

The system is Table Top CRM - the best way to keep track of your clients for any successful sale professional! To increase the capacity simply add more desks!

See pics for more:

Keen to learn more drop me an email red@mailprimer.com or visit the Table Top CRM site click here...

On a more serious note when I do find a good CRM I’ll let you know! Sales force is not too bad, great for reporting but way to many clicks to get the data in! Just get a bit of stick from Andrew and Andrew on my style.

Thanks

Tom

Charity Vote NZ

2007-09-06T12:47:00.000+12:00

Telecom New Zealand has offered to donate $250,000 each to the four charities that receive the most votes. If you have a Telecom internet account with xtra:

http://www.charityvote.co.nz/

Get in and vote for your charity of choice we are!!

Calcium on the TV

2007-08-24T14:17:00.000+12:00

An interview on ASB Business (TVNZ) with Calcium's own Tom Reidy and Raymond from the great team at Victoria University

ASB Business interview with Justine Turner form TVNZ

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 comes into effect on 5 September

2007-08-09T15:45:00.000+12:00

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has established an Anti-Spam Unit to investigate complaints about spam from the public and act against New Zealand ‘spammers’.

Ensure that your organisation meets the requirements of the new Act by attending one of the Anti-Spam seminars being held across the country in August and September.

If you would like to attend please fill out this registration form and email to josie.keating@dia.govt.nz fax to 04 495 7224 or send to

Anti-Spam Unit,
Department of Internal Affairs,
PO Box 805,
Wellington.

Anti-Spam law countdown

2007-08-09T15:09:00.000+12:00

New Zealand businesses should be preparing themselves for the ‘Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007’, which takes effect on 5 September.

The UEM Act defines spam as ‘unsolicited, commercial, electronic messages’, and sets out the rules for sending commercial electronic messages legitimately.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has established an Anti-Spam Unit to investigate complaints about spam from the public and act against spammers in New Zealand who are deliberately flouting the law.

Anti-Spam Unit manager, Joe Stewart, says that 99 percent of spam originates from overseas so it is important to note that the UEM Act will not stop spam.

“What it does enable us to do is to prevent New Zealand becoming a ‘spammer haven’ by allowing us to fight New Zealand-sourced spam. The Act also allows us to enter into international agreements to share information and pursue cross-border complaints.

“The legislation is just part of a range of undertakings to combat spam. We will also be actively involved in promoting spam education and awareness, encouraging industry liaison and monitoring emerging technologies,” says Joe.

The penalties for breaching the UEM Act range from formal warnings to infringement notices and court actions (with a maximum fine of $500,000 for an organisation or $200,000 for an individual). A ‘spammer’ could also be ordered to pay the victims compensation up to the amount of loss suffered and/or damages up to the amount of profit that was made as a result of sending the spam.

What do you need to do?

When sending a commercial electronic message you must: have the consent of the recipient, clearly identify the sender and the sender’s contact details, and include a free unsubscribe facility.

There are three types of consent outlined in the Act – express, inferred and deemed. Express consent is a direct indication that the recipient wishes to receive messages and encompasses situations such as ticking a box on a website or a phone/face-to-face conversation.

Inferred consent is when the recipient hasn’t directly instructed you to send them a message, but there is a reasonable expectation that messages will be sent. For example, the recipient provided their email address when purchasing goods and services in the general expectation that there will be a follow-up communication.

Deemed consent covers situations when someone has conspicuously published their work related electronic address or mobile number (i.e. on a website, brochure or magazine). However any message sent must still be relevant to the recipient’s business.

This means that existing client address lists and databases will need to be checked to ensure each client has consented to receiving electronic messages. Under the Act if enforcement action is taken the onus is on the sender of a message to prove consent, whether it be express, inferred or deemed.

For those who would like to know more about the requirements of the UEM Act, the Anti-Spam Unit is hosting a series of practical seminars nationwide in August and September. The dates for these and the registration form are available at www.antispam.govt.nz

More detailed information, including examples, is also provided in the ‘Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 Guide for businesses’. The guide is available at www.antispam.govt.nz on the ‘Business info’ page.

However it is important to note that the guide provides general advice only. If the answer to your query is unclear you should seek legal advice, or contact the Anti-Spam Unit at info@antispam.govt.nz

Save a tree continued...

2007-07-31T20:58:00.000+12:00

Save a tree makes an appearance on Scoop:

Here....
And here...

Thanks for the support guys!!

Viral marketing at its best!

2007-07-27T16:51:00.001+12:00

The below link is a great example of Viral marketing through email!
The idea behind the campaign is to promote email as an alternative to paper base marketing, but also to encourage people to think before they print an email. Click the link and refer some people as the more referred the more donated to a good cause!!

The campaign has been created by Tom and the team at Calcium

www.saveatree.co.nz

Rayguns for sale!

2007-06-26T13:59:00.000+12:00

Another great piece of work from Andrew, Lee and Nigel at Touch/Cast/Next

Great stuff!!

The business leaders of the future

2007-06-21T15:40:00.000+12:00

Wellington’s business leaders of the future are graduating from high-growth business incubator Creative HQ next week (Tuesday June 26).

Globally-renowned animation company Karactaz, destinational fashion store deNada, and international on-line casting website StarNow.com have all met the challenging growth targets set by NZ Trade & Enterprise.

They will join companies including Optimal Usability, Virtual Katy, Spikefin, Calcium Communications and SilverStripe as Creative HQ alumni.

A total of 11 high-growth companies have graduated from Creative HQ, and there are currently spaces available for new residents.

The international success of StarNow.com gained local recognition when they were named finalists in the Cyber Gold category at this year’s Wellington Region Gold Awards for business.

Karactaz was founded by Dylan Coburn in 2002 to sell creative services, especially animation products and technology.

DeNada is the first fashion company to graduate from a New Zealand incubator.

Co-run by Nada Matthews and Stewart Island-based Jo Learmonth, deNada launched a new concept in fashion and retail with the opening of their Featherston Street store.

The collection of street-styled and urban garments in sizes 8-16 is extended to include off-the-shelf garments in curvy and tall, catering for different body shapes.

Jewellery, accessories, good coffee and a boutique selection of low-fi and café style music are available to listen to and buy.

Well done guys and I look forward to seeing your names more in future...

The new face of consumerism

2007-06-21T15:17:00.000+12:00

The new face of consumerism is the man standing outside the office of Mercury Energy with a placard “Contract Killers,” and we had all better start getting used to it.

Disenfranchised, angry, cheated and out-for-revenge consumers are wanting and demanding more from big business. Last month it was Ribena and now it’s Mercury Energy in the firing line.

Big businesses are in the gun and they need to adopt a new approach to brand building if they are to survive.

We are now in the new age of ‘consumer centric business’ and Chief Executives need to work out how to apply that to their businesses.

This ‘global warming of consumerism’ is the result of some profound social changes: notably the breakdown of traditional communities. The impact of those changes means that the rules of brand development and management are being rewritten as we speak.

Kevin Milne of Fair Go is at the forefront of consumer advocacy. Where do businesses get it so wrong? In my experience “they just don’t take care of their customers,” he told businesses at a BrandNew seminar recently.

The problem is that companies like Mercury Energy have focused on selling a product not on providing a social service. But it is possible to get it right.

Take the coffee business. From its foundation in 1971 to 1987 Starbucks adopted a ‘product centric’ approach to its business. In sixteen years, it managed to open just six stores in Seattle.

By 1987 it adopted ‘a customer centric’ approach and over the next sixteen years grew to seven and a half thousand stores in thirty-four countries. Customers came and drank coffee and interacted at Starbucks stores. The stores didn’t sell coffee; they provided a meeting place. That was the business. It was a social service.

The new environment is no longer a place for commodities, however good the price, product, service or promotion might be.

How has this sea change come about? Fifty years ago our traditional ‘face to face’ communities started to collapse, and break apart in a spectacular fashion.

Nuclear families became solo parent families, villages were replaced by suburbs, membership in sports clubs collapsed, and church congregations fell. Almost all of our traditional ‘social-capital rich’ communities have been decimated.

The primary culprits in this ‘community destruction’ process have been, television, automotive travel, the pill and telecommunications; all wonderful inventions that have enriched our lives in so many beneficial ways.
But like all good things they come at a cost. Their combined effect has been world changing.

Television has privatised recreation and entertainment; we no longer need to get together in groups to amuse ourselves, to learn or to have fun.

Telecommunications connect us with anyone, anywhere, instantly without the need for face to face contact.

Automotive travel allows us to escape local environments and move away from people and things we don’t like, to become rootless; new age nomads.

Widespread use of the contraceptive pill means women can choose if and when to have children. They were freed to work, earn money and become independent.

Communities that for so long were life supports, communities we were born into, communities that cradled us, nurtured us, and taught us values and how to co-exist, cared for us when we got old and communities that defined who we are, are vanishing.

Five million years of evolution has gone out the window in fifty years. There are no more families, or villages or neighborhoods, at least not the way they were.

The opportunity is here right now for businesses to step into the vacuum.
Already highly successful ‘brand communities’ are blossoming; Harley Davidson, BMW, The Onslow Tarbabies, Tuis, Starbucks, Icebreaker, U-Tube and Swazi are just a few of these new brand communities.

These are brands we trust, brand communities with shared values where people connect, where we belong, brands that add value and meaning to our lives, that express who we are, what we believe in and what we stand for.

Doug Heffernan should be thinking hard about the Mercury brand and what it stands for, what value it brings to the community. How can he add value in a customer-centric manner? This approach will be more effective than any crisis management course he and his executive may undertake.

Dave Bassett is the Chief Executive of BrandNew, a brand agency in Wellington.

Careful with that signature!

2007-06-18T12:54:00.000+12:00

One of the reasons we built mailPrimer was not for the advertising spinoff or the brand re-enforcement but simple to help companies get a handle on their email signatures and control them form a central point, as I have mentioned in previous writings brand starts form the simple text and works its way through the entire organisation.

It’s a scary thought that companies leave the sign of up to the individual staff on one of the main tools of communication!

And yes one of the simplest things in email is to have a consistent signature that includes:

Name

Company

Title

DDI

Web

5 simple bits of vital information, too often I found myself scrolling through screeds of email looking for a phone number!

So the point of this? If you don’t use mailPrimer, that’s OK however I really insist that you enforce a company policy that keeps vital contact details in your staff sign offs.

So be careful with that signature and make sure it contains ALL your contact details!

A nice example of clean emails with good signatures...

Great advertising...

2007-06-18T11:05:00.000+12:00

Great little advertising clip form the team at Vimeo.

Love it!!

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo

Switched on CEO

2007-06-18T10:21:00.000+12:00

Success comes from passion and passion drives success! Great to see that passion is leading the way here!
An interview with our CEO http://www.istart.co.nz/index/HM20/AS3/AR29744

Cutting through...

2007-05-08T18:54:00.000+12:00

How do you cut through all the advertising, someone once told me that you are bombarded with over 20,000 forms of advertising in a 24 hour period, stuff like radio, TV, bumper stickers and billboards?

Seems like an awful lot of marketing spend without the desired effect! And can you really track it??

So how do you cut through this and have a sniper approach rather than a scatter gun approach, I’m sure you could spend a lot of time making some wonderful billboards or commercials that really grab attention, for example:

Mentos TV advert
Turkish GP Billboard

Or you could take a more personal approach like branded emails!!! Imagine the ability to send a personal day to day email that not only gets your message across but also helps the recipient and the sender with such things as cross promotion, brand reinforcement, market/product/brand awareness, and the list goes on!

All this from simple email and at a fraction of the cost of more traditional methods!!

Not only that combine the power of e-Newsletters, web analytics and daily emails you can really hone in on the areas of interest for your clients and take your online marketing to the next level!

Like to know more?? Drop me an email red@mailprimer.com

Advertising on emails

2007-05-04T20:35:00.000+12:00

Who would have thought that this would work! We do it on websites so why not on emails
Below is an example of what the guys at Direct Broking are up to.

This is advertising on their share alert emails – they send about 20000 per week, and thanks to me J they have 99% delivery and 60% confirmed view rates of ads.

The great thing is we can not only place HTML image ads but also text ads like Google ad words.
This turns a cost to the company into a revenue stream as well as a great way of further re-enforcing the brand! Want to know more?

Flick me an email: red@mailPrimer.com and I’ll be happy to discuss in more detail.

Personal brand

2007-05-02T11:08:00.000+12:00

Here in NZ personal brand is a funny thing, were all to scared of being a tall poppy and happier to hind behind a company name, were in actual fact there is so much to gain from associating your individual name to a company, for example Mike Pero Mortgages or LV Martin, whether Mr Pero or Mr Martin gave any thought to this I’m not sure but by assisting a person to a company, through the direct name or by association – Sam Morgan and Trade Me. People feel more respect for the brand as it takes on the human qualities of the individual and makes the brand seem to be trust worthy.

So if you believe in it - stand by it!

Brand affects culture

2007-04-30T12:33:00.000+12:00

Branding is not just for your clients/customers!

Strong brand affects the culture of any company!

Having staff buy into your brand is all about confidence in the company. It is important to make sure staff are proud to be associated with the company and what the brand stands for!

How to do this – this involves keeping the staff involved with the importance of brand and to understand that they are the brand, just as much as the Logo and associated catch phrase!

As I’ve mentioned in previous rants the staff of a company can be the most effective branding tool. As a customer opinion of a company will often come from the last face to face interaction they had with staff!

For example think of your last bank experience – if you dealt with an idiot that did not know how to handle your accounts chances are you think the whole bank is run by idiots, flip that around to if you dealt with a star your opinion of the bank would be so much higher and your more than likely to recommend the bank to your friends!

So brand does affect culture if staff aren’t confident, proud or in love with the brand you can’t expect them to sell it, if they are then you’re on track to having a global phenomena for a company!

Best place to start is at the top, you have to love your brand!

Green Blogging

2007-04-24T07:26:00.000+12:00

Finally Green gets a blog...

The Green Running Man

Check it out!

To brand or not to brand...

2007-04-23T11:47:00.000+12:00

This is really one of those not why but why not sort of questions.

Why would a company spend money on a brand? It’s simple really, obvious or not brand is the reputation of the company. This is why a personal brand is so important; guys like The Donald Trump and Sir Richard Branson are huge brands in themselves and have massive effects on the companies as a whole. Why would the Don have his name on everything if brand was not important, you may say... well he has the money, but really his brand helps generate the money.
So whether your a small one man band or a larger organisation brand is the most important part of the business – this always makes me chuckle when I hear the first budget to be cut is always the marketing – in my humble opinion if a company is wanting to make sales or acquire more business then really they should shoot the bean counters and amp up the marketing and advertising, you don’t have to spend big dollars to have great results some of the best campaigns are done on the cheap!

So coming back to the start of this rant – branding also starts at the very basic level – yes that’s right my humble reader the very text you use on letters, emails, website or any form of communication is where your brand starts, not just your logo and colours but right from the basics, this also flows through to what you write how your staff interact with customers, all in all every touch point with clients should tie in and represent the brand.

So how does all this waffle and tangent discussion relate to Red?? That’s easy email is a touch point that is largely left to the staff to brand, what I do is bring the corporate style to each and every email, all branded consistently from the text to the logos!

Concerned about personal style and taste?
You’re kidding right? If you’re not then why not have the staff do their own thing for business cards and letter head etc? While you’re at it fire the marketing team as I’m positive if you adopt this approach they will have a heart attack any way!!

Below is a great example of before I came along and after I had enhanced the day to day emails also a good example of why its not best for staff to do it, also note: each stuff member had a different sign off - not exactly brand consistent!!

So summing up why Brand! Simple, consistency is key; a well designed and executed brand will deliver higher results as the reputation of the company comes from the brand!

Check these guys out as a good example – touch cast next – you would not think the company is only a team of 3!!

Whats up at Calcium

2007-04-13T17:14:00.000+12:00

Well a lot has happen since I last posted.

Most of the work has gone into my little brother Green, busy at the gym working out and growing stronger by the day!!
Anyway we have also had a few new groups see the light in email marketing and have joined us in the revolution!!
Some nice big names such as Mike Pero Mortgages and FMG - thanks guys for your support!

Watch this space for more....

Calcium gets a new site

2007-02-05T17:08:00.000+13:00

Wow now that's cool!! Calcium Communication Software has a new site!!

The experts in email marketing and the place I call home now has a new website!! And best of all a blog!! See Calcium's blog

Also a good place to learn more about me (Red) and my brother (Green) and a few of the other things we have to make ourselves rock at email marketing!

Nothing to do with email marketing

2007-02-05T16:58:00.000+13:00

But you should check out this little company in New Zealand called Xero!
Currently they are in the process of building a kick arse accounting software package in dot net 2.0

How I know about this?? One of our super stars - Andrew is currently work for them 4 days a week. Check out his blog especially if you have keen interest in software and IT stuff appropriately titled Business Savvy Software:

www.butel.co.nz

And have a look at the Xero website - good to bookmark it for future companies to go global form New Zealand: www.xero.com

In particular check out their blog always interesting: Xero Blog

Would you look at that

2007-01-30T11:35:00.000+13:00

Very excited today!!

I have been nominated for an award through the Marketing Association of New Zealand !!!
This is with my parent Calcium Communication and our good friends at Direct Broking.

The best thing is that we're up against the big guns of marketing and design, so fingers crossed we win!

Watch this space....

Check out the competition:

Marketing Association

So whats the award for?? Its all about email marketing and communication! Using my clever skills of branding daily email communication and my brother Greens skills for email newsletters along with a bit of tracking and analysis we were able to increase the brand awareness, information and sales with our magic!!

We're all very excited and can't wait for the night - I'd also like to say congratulations to all the other contestants!!!

Just a quick one

2007-01-10T14:33:00.000+13:00

This is a copy of my latest work, so clean and crisp!! The coolest thing is that with each email sent the image and text on the side in light blue changes as well as being an active link! All this and only 5kb!!

Email marketing has never been so cool!!

And this is what my younger bro (Green) has been up to, he really should get his own blog as he has quite a cool story to tell!!

Something a little personal…

2007-01-09T13:14:00.000+13:00

I love the colour red and all things that are red. Obvious I know…

The below is a photo of my bike (beauty meets beast).

Yes that’s what happens when not ugly red machines get side swiped by ugly not red machines.

Luckily know one was badly injured.

This just makes me think more on how important it is to maintain the beauty in everything and say no to your own ugly.

So please I have the job of making daily email communication, marketing and branding so beautiful!!

Red's first step

2007-01-08T14:35:00.000+13:00

Hello to those who are to read this.

This is the Blog for Me - Red - and how I came to be and what I have done….

My journey to existence began as a connection in the synapses of the brains of 2 very smart people some 4 years ago, and with that a new error of effective email marketing began for day to day communication.

The idea was simple, control, branding and selling through day to day corporate emails. Sounds simple most think they can do the same through such wonderful products as Outlook, yes mister Gates and his team of propellers are great at what the do… We just do one bit better. Many others think they can also do what we do by making a HTML page and adding that to their auto signature… Once again not so cool!

Just to make things very clear from the beginning – I am not a newsletter tool (sure my brother Green is)!! But a smart application for day to day emails.

So why am I - Red – so much better, simple from 2 people we became 12, 12 people who are passionate about making email communication graceful and smart – 12 people who are also passionate about the delivery of emails and that the emails get through as intended, not with HTML crap or broken links.

How I can do this… watch this space and I will share with you my abilities and how I am intending on making the world a more beautiful place – one email at a time.