The competition, which ran for 12 weeks and closed on 15 May 2010, smashed its targets and delivered huge results for our client. Engineers Australia has set a new precedent when it comes to using a CRM and the digital channel to connect with their audience.

Make it so. Animated Re-cap:

A quick re-cap on the campaign

A benchmarking study conducted in May 2009 found that, despite high levels of advocacy (at 59%, engineering came in second behind medicine as one of the most respected professions), engineering was poorly understood by the broader public (only 37% of people knew what engineers actually do).

So Engineers Australia devised Make it so, a national publicity campaign with the tag, “If you can imagine it, engineers can make it so.” The campaign sought to change the face of engineering in Australia and attract more students to the profession.

To do this, a national competition was launched in February, inviting Australians to share their dreams and ideas – with the winning idea being turned into reality by a team of engineers.

Before this, Engineers Australia spent six months recruiting its members and asking them to get them on board as advocates. These advocates would essentially become the ‘worker bees’ of the public campaign.

We shared how successful this phase was in a previous blog post.

Make it so the public loves engineering

Phase two – in operation since February – has involved driving traffic to www.makeitso.org.au and encouraging the general public to submit their ideas. Following on from the success of phase one’s purely digital approach to recruitment, we implemented a similar digital strategy to spread the word about the competition.

Make it so was promoted in a range of cost-effective and memorable ways via the digital channel, such as via social networks, EDMs, blog posts and online advertising.

Some of the highlights of the campaign results are outlined below:

• Engaging with members: Of the 85,000 members, 52,000 had opted-in to receive communications from Engineers Australia. Of those who had opted in, 8,000 people signed up as advocates. This represents 16% mobilisation of members.
• Cleaning up the database: Before the campaign, the bounce rate on the Engineers Australia database was high. Following the campaign, 6000 permanent bounces – or 7% of the database – were cleared. The database now holds 52 fields per contact (many of which represent new data such as graduation dates), so campaign managers are more responsive in using the data to shape strategies on an ongoing basis.
• Facebook: there were very strong results through Facebook. Entrants could promote their ideas on their Facebook site, and encourage friends to visit the site and vote. This proved a highly effective channel.

We kept a monitor on the results using Google Analytics. “We were particularly impressed with the traffic graph. It peaked when we launched, then we witnessed another peak with our ‘Make it so towel give-away’. Then, as soon as we bumped up online advertising – through cost-effective channels like Facebook – it grew massively again,” said Charlie Graves-Morris, Campaign Manager, Bienalto.

Long-term outcomes for Engineers Australia

In addition to these great results, Engineers Australia has also laid the foundations for future success – by engaging with its members like never before.
This deep level of engagement will have positive repercussions for some time to come. For example, Engineers Australia has achieved:

• An up-to-date database, with richer information about members to enable more targeted marketing in the future
• Identification of active members through the “Make it so Champions” micro-campaign
• Activation of new, cost-effective channels of communication like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

For an organisation that exists for its members, relationship marketing is critical. The professional association has demonstrated a new and incredibly effective way of engaging with members – via a CRM – and building a bridge between engineers and the wider community.

The Make it so campaign exemplifies new and successful ways that an organisation can engage with its membership and the broader community – cultivating lasting relationships that will reap mutually beneficial rewards into the long term.

Competition update

Engineers Australia is now busy selecting a winning idea, which will be announced on 7 June 2010.

This idea will be made a reality by an engineering team, and regular updates about their progress will be posted at www.makeitso.org.au.

The www.makeitso.org.au website will now be used by Engineers Australia as a public interface – a place where engineering news, stories, events and forums can be promoted. It will build upon the organisation’s original goal to change the face of engineering in Australia.

Visit www.makeitso.org.au.

There’s a marked difference in the execution of marketing campaigns offline and online.

Offline, you design a campaign, launch it with a big bang and, voila, you’re done. Online, however, the ‘big bang’ is but a part of the journey.

In fact, it marks the start of a valuable ‘extend and expand’ phase – where you continually test and grow the campaign, adding new elements and attracting more people to it as you go.

Frontline Systems, a leading IT infrastructure and services provider in Australia, has embraced the online paradigm and implemented a highly successful campaign for brand positioning and market development. The Solaris is IT campaign – which is still in progress – is a prime example of the ‘extend and expand’ philosophy at work.

Challenge

“As a leading IT infrastructure and services provider, one of our ongoing priorities is to grow our market, utilising expertise from within to achieve this. Solaris expertise has historically been a pillar of our business and with it now being a truly platform independent environment, it complements our Vendor Hardware strategy.” said Greg Wade, Marketing Director, Frontline.

“We sought a campaign that would demonstrate our expertise in Solaris, educate the market about cross-platform support of this powerful operating system across x86 systems from leading vendors, and generate demand for Frontline services.” said Wade.

Frontline engaged Bienalto to deliver a comprehensive strategy; and take charge of campaign design, execution, and the critical ‘extend and expand’ phase.

Solution

Bienalto conceptualised the Solaris is IT campaign as the way forward for Frontline.

Solaris is IT, which includes a website and competition to gauge interest and offer interactivity, is tailored for three key audiences – IT managers, architects and system administrators.

Built using Events Manager, the campaign captures customer data and is designed to integrate with Frontline’s CRM.

“We tested the campaign messaging on Frontline’s existing customer base before expanding beyond their database,” said Hurol Inan, Managing Director, Bienalto. “Once we got the message right, we were ready to broaden the net and capture new leads.”

The expansion strategy entailed the use of social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn, and online advertising on specialist IT news sites; as well as ongoing email communication with people who had already registered interest.

Using strategies such as these, Bienalto has more than doubled the response rate for the competition since moving beyond the Frontline database.

“Bienalto has been involved at every step of the way – from initial concepts to visual design and development. They are now steering critical activities like email marketing to achieve the best possible outcome,” said Wade.

Frontline’s Solaris is IT campaign is still in progress, yet already a number of sub-campaigns are in the works to extend its scope.

“Based on the foundations we have built with this campaign, we have every confidence to launch new campaigns. They will be predictable from the outset and generate strong results for the business,” said Inan.

Are you ready to leverage online?

Any business with a major initiative or objective on the radar should be thinking about taking the campaign online.

If you are unsure of where to start, speak to Bienalto today. Call us on +61 2 8356 3000 or email info@bienalto.com.

Enter the Solaris is IT competition today!

Bienalto encourages IT professionals to enter the Solaris is IT competition, and promote it within their organisations.

Entering is easy. All you need to do is register to receive Solaris information pack to be in the minor draw. If you are existing Solaris users, this pack also contains instructions on how to enter the major competition for which you will need to state, in 250 words of less, how Solaris 10 improves your working life.

You will go in the running to win some cool prizes, including one of five Google Android powered HTC Dream Smart Phones, or one of five BOSE around-ear headphones.

Learn more about the campaign and enter the competition

Camden Soil Mix provides products and services to customers in horticulture, agriculture, viticulture, civil works and commercial landscaping; as well as services in earth management to local councils.

Customers rely on the diverse range of sustainable, organic products on offer, and need the ability to find the right product to suit their growing or landscaping application.

Following acquisition by WSN Environmental Solutions, the business undertook a market analysis and segmentation project and, from this, developed a focused strategy to engage key categories of customers. They sought to re-design the website with these customers top of mind – so that each market segment could find what they were looking for quickly and easily.

Bienalto was engaged to devise the new site. The resulting architecture – which utilises faceted search on the WordPress platform – intuitively guides customers to the products they seek; whilst remaining supportive of WSN’s design aesthetic and sustainability focus.

Challenge

The acquisition of Camden Soil Mix by WSN in 2008 was a great incentive to update the company’s website.

We really needed to reflect our current activities – that is, producing and delivering organic materials throughout NSW – while building a site that would support our plans for diversifying the business,” said Kate Concannon, Marketing & Communications Officer, WSN.

With the new site, Camden Soil Mix sought to identify each market segment the business seeks to deal with – and group relevant products and environmental messages under each segment.

Working out how to channel customers to the right products was probably our biggest challenge. Having Bienalto clarify and convert the vision for the look, layout and functionality of the site into spot-on design and architecture was the easy part,” said Concannon.

Solution

To cater for all market segments, simple search functionality wouldn’t cut it. Bienalto sought a more intuitive, user-friendly approach – and faceted search fit the bill nicely.

Faceted search (or faceted navigation) – which allows a user to hunt for information via a number of different pathways – is popular on e-commerce sites for its ability to help users find what they want much faster.

Although Camden Soil Mix is not yet an e-commerce site, faceted search works well here too. It enables the logical grouping of products according to their ‘application’ (e.g. Civil Works, Nurseries, Orchards) and ‘type’ (e.g. Mulch, Compost).

Bienalto recommended WordPress for the site’s content management framework. Offering clients’ incredible ease of use and flexibility, WordPress is Bienalto’s platform of choice from a cost and performance perspective.

For Camden Soil Mix’s site, Bienalto started with a blank WordPress theme, designed the site to align with the client’s brand and incorporated proven WordPress plug-ins to match the client’s exact requirements.

Bienalto is one of the major WordPress developers in Australia now, and our expertise is being passed on to our clients in the development of sites such as this one,” said Hurol Inan.

“Our knowledge of WordPress, coupled with our strong background in information architecture and usability design, means that clients are getting the best of both worlds – a cost-effective build and a high-performing website.”

Results

The new site achieves the business objectives of driving brand awareness and providing segment-tailored education around products and their associated environmental benefits.

Camden Soil Mix now has an easy-to-use interface, which makes site updates and the addition of new products and services a breeze.

The Bienalto team managed to strike a balance between realising our vision and providing valuable input of their own to help shape this. They were very attentive to our objectives and put forward insightful and practical suggestions that significantly improved the end result,” said Concannon.

In July 2008, the investment attraction function previously administered by Invest Australia was rolled into Austrade as part of its overall trade facilitation function.

Austrade’s existing website lacked the scalability to simply ‘plug in’ a new section of content and was ready for a refresh to improve usability and content.

Austrade engaged Bienalto for one month of intensive strategy and collaboration to devise a new information architecture and content rationale for the site. The new website, which was launched in February 2009, creates a dynamic, progressive platform for the future growth of the agency.

Challenge

Until 2009, Austrade had operated different websites for its local and overseas audiences: www.austrade.gov.au and www.austrade.com. There were issues associated with marketing the two sites; as well as the challenge of overcoming misconceptions around the US domain of the international site.

There were also content issues. The typical Austrade customer would come from a particular industry or market – and without creating too many headaches for content managers, Austrade sought a better way to channel users down their chosen pathway.

“In addition, we faced the challenge of incorporating all of the information from the Invest Australia website – in the knowledge that we had no extra funding to manage a whole new sub-site,” said Shannon Kolbe, Web Project Manager of the e-Business Team, Austrade.

This challenge of managing new content on a shoestring was picked up on by Bienalto, which came up with innovative ways to reduce the cost of upkeep on the new site.

Solution

Bienalto benchmarked investment sites from around the world to gain a clear picture of what information investors need to aid the decision-making process.

Guided by this research, Bienalto recommended an interface rich in graphics and video content; with clear navigation from the home page to channel users into different sections of the site.

“After consultations with the investment specialists, we saw that what they do is no different to a professional services firm. That is, they provide advice. So we started thinking within the context of what is best practice for professional services firm,” said Hurol Inan, Managing Director, Bienalto.

The rationale behind the video content – which appears within the “Invest” section of the site – was clear:

• Investment specialists are located all over the world, and are always on the road; and while they are more than happy to talk about their expertise, they are much less willing to write about it. Video and audio are a quicker and easier way to capture their messages and establish dialogue with customers.
• The video solves multilingual issues, with recordings made in different languages according to which country the investment specialist is based in.
• Potential investors are more likely to engage with Austrade’s investment specialists after listening to them speak in a video or audio recording.

Another new area of the “Invest” section addresses the content management issues. “Investor Update” is a blog-style communications piece, which gives Austrade a manageable platform for getting new messages to market and keeping the content fresh.

“Investor Update is the first port of call for any potential customers who want to stay up-to-date with Australia as a market. All the investment specialists have to do is send a bulleted list of hot topics to the Corporate Communications team every few months – and we’ve got the content we need,” Shannon said.

Bienalto’s aim was to build a site that would grow with the organisation, whilst remaining mindful of the strain content management would place on internal resources.

“Many sites make the mistake of designing for the launch; that is, creating a whole lot of content that the company has no resources to manage down the track. The content on Austrade’s site can be refreshed on an ongoing basis, and can also be rotated to ensure a fresh appeal for repeat users,” said Inan.

Results

The simplicity of the new Austrade website is winning votes with Austrade staff around the world.

“I keep hearing how proud people within the organisation are to be able to promote the website to customers,” said Shannon.

“A priority for the new site was to encourage more customers to talk to our investment specialists. Bienalto has really nailed this with their solution – the video recordings of our investment specialists discussing current economic issues really boosts their credibility.”

As Austrade sets forth with its new investment role in place, Shannon believes that the new site forms the centrepiece for clarifying the service offering.

“We’ve now got a new, clear way of looking at content, and incredible efficiency in delivering this content to our main audiences – which frees us up to explore new opportunities and ensure this site remains as progressive as it is today,” said Shannon.

Visit the new Austrade website.

From Cindy Lauper to classic concertos, Chicago the musical to Carmen the opera, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) shows it all. It is the premier multi-venue performance space in Queensland, attracting renowned international performers as well as providing a home away from home for Queensland’s leading performing arts companies.

With new shows on each month, QPAC relies on a slick and efficient marketing system that promotes the program to a database of more than 150,000 people. Of course, details about each show are not sent to all people on the database – and therein lies the key to what has become an incredibly efficient and successful email marketing program.

Bienalto has designed and developed a template for QPAC’s event promotion emails, enabling them to send out targeted emails to segments of the database – at the click of a button. Following on the success of this template, Bienalto is now working on a range of other projects with QPAC to iteratively improve its online communications channel.

Challenge

With such a diverse repertoire on its bill, the biggest challenge facing the marketing team has been finding a customer segmentation model that works. In other words, calculating what a customer is likely to buy tickets for, based on their previous purchases.

“The problem is, just because someone came to the ballet last month, it doesn’t mean they will buy a ticket to the next ballet performance,” said Rae Bassett, Audience Development Manager, QPAC.

“Particularly for first-time bookers and those that only come to the occasional performance, it becomes incredibly difficult to predict what their next purchase will be.”

QPAC sought a new way of promoting events that would rely on segmentation in the first instance, but would also include other promotions that could potentially generate increased sales.

Bassett and her team also sought a more streamlined and efficient process, to reduce the time spent on each campaign.

Solution

Bienalto devised an email template featuring a ‘QPAC recommends’ section. So, along with the main promotion, two to three alternative events can grab a customer’s interest, to squeeze more value from the single piece of communication to customers.

Information architecture principles have been applied to the design of the email template, to ensure that key elements (for example, ‘Buy Tickets’) are easily accessible. The design is also flexible enough to accommodate the distinctive branding requirements of different productions.

“We also wanted more ‘engagement information’ in our emails – which research from the United States has shown to be crucial for those first-time bookers who have the potential to become valued customers,” said Bassett.

With this in mind, the email templates enable the easy insertion of video content to better engage with customers. Bienalto has also helped to develop a ‘first-time booker’ program, which identifies the unique needs of new customers and sends timely welcome emails, information about the venue, reviews and a post-event email with a ‘first impressions survey’.

Results

“We have almost doubled our click-through rate on event promotion emails since we started using the new template,” said Bassett.

Prior to using the new templates in November 2008, the average open rate for campaigns was 27.5%. By February, the open rate was up to 45%, with an average list size of 10,000 recipients.

“Unique click-throughs have increased by 2% too. In itself, that doesn’t sound like a staggering increase, but the difference it makes to our bottom line is massive,” Bassett said.

The templates have made it much easier and faster for the promotion team to set up emails for each campaign – what once took up to four hours now takes 80 minutes. Considering that they often do more than 14 email campaigns per month, this is a huge saving.

“We simply could not live without email marketing anymore. It is so powerful and cost effective, and this new templated approach ensures that we extract maximum value from every piece of communication we send out,” said Bassett.