Here's a great example of how a marketer has completely lost the plot in the pursuit of technology. They forgot that it's not the medium it's the message that matters.

This morning I received an email from a local chamber of commerce that included a link to a "personal invitation" video. Here's what happened:

• Email from the Chamber of commerce arrives in my inbox.
• Because it's one giant graphic and I have my email images turned off I see nothing. I trust the chamber so I click to "allow images" and see that there is a "personal invitation" video.
• I'm not a huge fan of video emails but OK, I'll go with it.
• Clicking on the "watch video" button on the player does not play the video (as was implied),  rather it launched my browser, which opened a landing page.
• Landing page opened, video played (88 seconds is a bit long).
• That's it.  The only other information was the email address of the presenter and the chamber's email address.

No call to action. No event details. No register now button. No Link. No nothing.

A good communication should, Arrest, Engage, Inform, and finally Entice the viewer/reader to action.

In this case, a well crafted email would have:

• Been designed so that even with images turned off, the pertinent information would have been visible in the email viewer.
• Enabled the reader to see information about the event and to take appropriate next steps without having to watch the video.
• Alerted the viewer to the fact that the player would open in a new window.

And a well crafted landing page would have:

• Presented event details adjacent to the video to reinforce the message.
• A clear call to action.
• An easy way to begin the registration process.
• A link to additional information about the event.

Marketing basics always apply so as a marketer don't get fooled by fancy tactics.

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Tags: advertising campaign, email marketing