For example, Dunkin’ Brands doesn’t encourage local franchisees to do things like start their own Facebook pages, not only because of the work involved (which franchisees quickly learn they don’t have time for) but the tremendous support the corporate social machine can give them

When deciding where it needs to be socially, Dunkin’ considers where consumer are interacting with brands on emerging platforms. A Vine account  was launched in May with a “Runnin’ on #IceDD” contest, where users can win a year of free iced coffee for sharing how the beverage puts a spring in their step. Dunkin’ Donuts has 8.7 million+ Facebook fans, 230,000+ Twitter followers, and 27,000+ YouTube subscribers (with 1.2 million+ video views), as well 4,000+ Pinterest and 42,000+ Instagram.

“People love sharing pictures of donuts,” says Jessica Gioglio, PR and social media manager, noting that the company’s most popular Facebook post to date was a photo of smiley faced donuts, generating 63,000 likes, 5,600 shares, and over 5,000 comments.)

The brand itself has roots as a small local business. The first Dunkin’ Donuts shop opened in Quincy, MA in 1950, where it still stands today. The business case for social for Dunkin’ was to create a high energy community of fans. “We wanted to wrap our arms around them and show we care about what they say,” says Gioglio, who spoke at a recent PRSA Boston event.

Dunkin’ has a cross-functional social team, incorporating representatives from many aspects of the company. The interactive group handles promotions, email, loyalty and mobile, while media oversees advertising and strategic partnerships. PR and customer service keep tabs on social content and community management, while legal is brought in to offer overall program counsel.

Local agencies help Dunkin Brands support over 50 Twitter accounts for different geographic regions, such as @DCDunkin, @DunkinBoston and @DunkinChicago. Through these accounts, localized specials are offered.

Social also helps Dunkin’ gain momentum in areas the brand has not expanded into yet, such as California, where it plans to be by 2015.

The key to good social content for the brand is to keep things short and sweet, and talk up the products while staying away from a hard sell.

“You can say go buy a donut but its more engaging to say ‘how many bites does it take to eat a donut?’” Gioglio says.

The “DD Fan of the Week,” a concept created in social, has gone out into the real world, as the honoree is featured on a digital billboard Dunkin’ has in Times Square. Other engaging campaigns have included asking customers do dress their coffee cups up in Halloween costumes and share the photos, or to tweet pics of their “sad” lunch sandwiches, for the chance to win and upgrade to a Dunkin’ product.

On the gaming side of social, Dunkin’ Donuts has a presence in Sim City, a partnership that earned it 3.7 bilion impressions in less than 6 months and over one million new Facebook fans. In the game, Dunkin’ has gifted more than 50 milllion virtual coffees, donuts and other products.

Social has also proved to be an effective customer service tool for the chain. When PR pro Zach Nobinger tweeted that the cheese on his bagel wasn’t melted three times in one week, Dunkin’ started following him in 27 seconds, direct messaged him and quickly got a gift card out to make up for his inconvenience. Nobinger created a YouTube video chronicling the PR/customer service win for Dunkin’. (Giglio admits they don’t get to everyone in 27 seconds, of course, but they do their best.)

It has also been valuable as a PR outlet. When Boston was on lockdown during the manhunt for the Marathon bombing suspect in April, news outlets jumped on the fact that while the city had asked businesses to stay closed, some Dunkin’ Donuts locations were open. Giglio’s team was able to get the word out that the stores were open because employees had arrived prior to the lockdown and police had asked them to stay open, to give offers a place to refresh during the stressful day.

On a more positive note, Dunkin’ is always on the lookout to tie in to holidays that fit with the brand. That makes June 7, National Donut Day, a natural. Customers who purchase a beverage will get a free donut.

The post Dunkin’ Donuts Goes Local From the Corporate Level appeared first on Chief Marketer.

According to BIA/Kelsey, 97% of consumers research online before making a local purchase. What do consumers see when they search and discover your business online? Reputation management starts with this simple question, because it’s critical to understand what your business looks like online to potential customers.

Here are the basics of reputation management for local businesses: Assess, address and build.

1. Assess your reputation on search engines, review sites, social media, blogs and websites.

• Search Engines: You probably first think of review sites and the ratings that you’ve received on places like Google+ Local. But to get a typical customer view of your reputation, start by assessing what shows up for your business and reputation by usingkeywords, such as “Business Name,” “Business Name + Reviews” and “Business Name + Complaints,” on Google and Bing. Are the results positive or negative, new or old? The results you see here matter, because 70% of consumers look to search engines to find reviews, according to Econsultancy.
• Review & Listing Sites: Once you’ve assessed and tracked your reputation on search engines, locate your business pages on review sites and local listings like Google+ Local, Yelp, Yahoo! Local, Citysearch and MerchantCircle. Then claim your listings so that you can manage your business content and respond to any negative reviews you find.
• Social Media Sites: Are people talking about your business on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube? Social media is an important part of your online reputation because people may discover your business there, and it’s where customers share their experiences with local businesses—especially bad experiences.
• Blogs & Websites: Consumer experiences with local businesses show up in these formats as well. Set up alerts to stay up to date on what consumers might be saying about your business elsewhere on the web.

2. Monitor and Address Your Reputation Across the Web.

Once you have assessed your online reputation, you will have a good idea of issues that need to be addressed. This is a good baseline, but it’s critical to set up a system to make sure you’re alerted about new reviews that could affect your business reputation, since they could come at any time. Here’s how:

• Use Alerts, Tools and Services: There are many tools and services to monitor your reputation online. First, set up Google and Yahoo! Alerts to send you emails any time they discover new content for the business keywords you choose. This requires that you consistently check these emails, but it’s a quick way to get started.
• Reply to Negative Reviews: Almost every business will find complaints when assessing their reputation online. It’s important to respond to negative online reviews because doing so signals to customers that you care about them and their feedback, and it tells other readers that your business puts customer service first. When responding to a negative review, be professional and courteous, address the concern, and resolve the actual customer issue offline.
• Apply What You Learn to Your Business: What you find in the reviews may provide valuable insights about your business, operations and staff. Do customers consistently complain about long wait times or rude service? Do they praise the quality of your services but wish you offered greater variety or pricing options? These comments are valuable insights that can help you improve your business.

3. Build and Promote Positive Content About Your Business.

You cannot delete negative online reviews, content or comments about your business unless you go directly to a customer with whom you’ve resolved an issue and ask that he or she revoke the commentary. (Some sites allow this, while others will not; plus, this tactic can backfire if the customer isn’t truly 100% happy with the resolution.) Instead of focusing your efforts on removing the negative, which you can’t tightly control, pour yourself into sharing and creating positive content about your business so consumers will discover it online when they search for your business.

For example, ask happy customers to leave you reviews on the top review sites that show up when you search for your business; this will help build your reputation on those sites and give a more balanced view of what it’s like to do business with you. People are more likely to post a complaint online, but for every unhappy customer, you likely have many who are satisfied. So, create a system to consistently request reviews from satisfied customers, and show your appreciation.

You should also create blog posts with customer success stories, testimonials and videos. Share this content on your website as well as on social channels. It’s also critical to create a variety of timely, search-engine optimized content using your reputation keywords so the content will show up when consumers research your online reviews.

Invest in your local business’s online reputation by reporting on its reputation, responding to reviews, and creating and promoting content—or by paying for a program that manages it all for you. Your online reputation is very important to today’s consumers, but how important is it to your business?

Tiffany Monhollon is senior content marketing manager, ReachLocal.

The post Why You Should Give a Darn About Your Local Reputation appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Choosing the right lead generation strategy for your company depends on the type of service or solution you offer and on the types of customer interactions you encounter most frequently.

Outbound lead generation involves cold calling and prospecting—actively reaching out to prospective customers to introduce your company to them and build relationships. Inbound lead generation includes engine optimization, pay-per-click Google ads and social media marketing.

However, before deciding whether or how much to spend on inbound vs. outbound lead generation, you need to consider whether people are currently searching for your product or service online.

If the answer is yes, and there is already significant search engine traffic surrounding on your product or target market, you might want to consider focusing on inbound lead generation as your core lead generation strategy.

For example, printer ink is a great example of something all businesses search for online. It’s a commodity with many vendors selling it online, and you should try to generate more sales leads from search engine marketing. Put more focus on SEO and pay per click ads. Optimize your website so that certain popular search keywords are included in your text and headlines. Buy Google ads so that when all those thousands of people search for your solution by name, they will have a chance to see your ad and clickthrough to find your company’s website. Create blog articles and other content marketing material and build relationships with other bloggers and influential online publications and commentators in your industry.

On the other hand, if you sell “managed print solutions,” chances are there won’t be as many online searches for that service. This could be a sign that you need to focus your lead generation strategy on outbound lead generation tactics—identifying prospect companies that are a good fit for what you offer, informing local businesses about your service, and doing lead generation calls to identify the prospect’s pain and develop solutions for the prospect’s unique needs.

Inbound and outbound lead generation strategies don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Unless you sell a highly specialized product or service with very little online search interest, your company would probably benefit from at least some inbound lead generation. Often companies can use inbound lead generation to generate sales leads (for example, by offering blog posts, podcasts, how-to videos or downloadable eBooks), and then use traditional outbound techniques to further qualify and nurture the sales leads.

Of course, most of of your sales prospects are not going to decide to buy from you simply by looking at your website. But inbound B2B lead generation can capture attention and interest, build trust, and set the stage for building a deeper sales relationship with a prospect over time.

Gregg Schwartz is director of sales for Strategic Sales & Marketing.

The post Finding the Right Lead Generation Strategy appeared first on Chief Marketer.

• New list to market in past 7 days
• Exclusive to list manager
• Data card quality score 85 or higher on NextMark
• Data card publicly available online

Caliber Corporate Contacts

This proprietary database includes more than 50,000 in-house executives in roles such as C-suite, general counsel, corporate secretary, investor relations, risk, compliance, PR, media relations and others.

Universe: 55,067

Price: $150/M

Selections: Email, phone

Contact: TriMax Direct, Keely Vazquez, keelyv@trimaxdirect.com, (651) 292-0156

Datacard: http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=380034

Female-Focused Publications by Bartash Blow-In

Inserts can be placed in publications distributed by Bartash Printing, including Women’s Journal, Matters Magazine, Momma’s Little Guide and LI Bride 2 Be

Universe: 9,050,000

Price: $40/M

Contact: Leon Henry Inc., Jim Gallagher, jimg@leonhenryinc.com, (914) 285-3456

Datacard:  http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=380119

The Oregonian Newspaper Monthly Statement Program

Inserts will be included in the monthly billing statements sent to subscribers.

Universe: 884,00

Price: $60/M

Contact: Media Horizons Management, Anthony Accatino, aaccatino@mediahorizons.com (203) 604-1793

Datacard:  http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=380180

Chris DeMartine is director of business development at NextMark and president of the VT/NH Marketing Group.

The post Chief Marketer Listline May 16 appeared first on Chief Marketer.

A customer journey shows how a customer progresses through buying stages—or emotions, states of mind or sentiments—toward you, your brand, or your product or service. Caring about those customer journeys helps to take a bigger perspective beyond just a transaction or conversion, helps you to focus on various segments and their particular needs, to measure the right data and to create content marketing that actually works. Here’s what you need to know.

The post Why You Should Care About Customer Journeys appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Content marketing is a great way to get links but it’s not the only way to do it. In fact, placing too much emphasis on content can actually distract from what we should be doing most—approaching the unique needs of each client and niche. This author shares five link-building tactics that aren’t rooted in content.

The post How to Build Links Without Traditional Content Marketing appeared first on Chief Marketer.

B2B marketers love data, but their biggest challenge is acting on all the data they have to improve their marketing efforts. This article highlights five essential reports for B2B marketers looking for actionable insights. Lots of research, stats and charts here. And once you get the hang hang of marketing analytics, the next step is using custom dashboards: four Google Analytics dashboards are recommended.

The post 5 Key Reports for Measuring B2B Marketing appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Dodge is expanding its role in the “Fast and Furious” franchise to include the SRT Challenger, a vintage Charger Daytona—and the Dart compact economy car. The brand has a video out tied to the upcoming “Fast & Furious 6,” which opens May 24, titled “How to Make Your Car Fast and Furious.” Watch the video.

The post Dodge Role in ‘Fast & Furious 6′ Adds the Dart: Video appeared first on Chief Marketer.

We’ve all heard the impressive stat that 47% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from Pinterest. What can marketers do to boost that number and more effectively engage consumers on the site? Pinterest is doing its share by introducing new services for companies like business accounts. Here’s eight ideas for you to tap into.

The post 8 Ways to Expand Your Pinterest Presence appeared first on Chief Marketer.

As marketing professionals progressively spend more time on the road or commuting and the functionality of mobile devices keeps increasing, it makes sense that more work is being performed on mobile devices. To keep things simple, and to keep work effective, mobile app developers have come up with some impressive solutions to common problems of mobile device use. Here’s eight solutions for you to check out.

The post 8 Mobile Apps for Marketers appeared first on Chief Marketer.