Every April 1^st, companies are given a free pass to get a little cheeky and join the rest of the nation for some April Fools’ Day fun. Brands like Google, Toshiba, and Funny or Die are regular participants in the tomfoolery and, no doubt, have a great time pulling off these jokes. But do April Fools’ Day marketing stunts actually pay off? Should brands lighten up and show more of their silly sides?

Ever hear of Dollar Shave Club?

Michael Dubin’s Dollar Shave Club video singlehandedly put his business on the map. How? The humor turns viewers into customers.

While Dollar Shave Club’s ad certainly is not a prank, it still demonstrates the power of comedy. Simply put: consumers like brands that don’t take themselves too seriously.

Forget sex, laughter is what really sells.

And what better stage for laughter than the one day of the year set aside for jokes and gags? Plus, April Fools’ Day gives a boost to the pranks that fall flat and offers forgiveness to the stunts that go a little too far; the holiday is the perfect time to take a risk with some humorous marketing.

Still not convinced? Consider these four case studies showcasing brands that saw excellent returns from their April Fools’ Day marketing campaigns.

E-mail Subscribers

Divot.com, a golf equipment ecommerce merchant, operates on a unique business model, selling only one product each day at a deep discount. Once 3 a.m. EST rolls around, the offer is over, and the website features a new daily deal.

In 2011, Divot.com “decided to run an April Fools’ joke on a lark.” Instead of featuring a real product on April 1^st, the retailer placed its “Origami Golf Ball” up for sale as a gag. The results blew Divot.com away:

2011

That kind of spike in traffic is definitely huge, but for a business like Divot.com, email subscription is the most important metric for success. Divot.com’s SEO Analyst , Bobby Barbeau, explains why:

The ability to deliver daily deals via email is crucial to eventual conversion. Subscribers conveniently see the featured product of the day in their inboxes and purchase when they see something that they need.

So the real testament of Divot.com’s victory was its 80% increase in subscription rate!

Divot.com was on to something.

Realizing the power hidden inside this silly holiday, the golf equipment retailer continued its April Fools’ Day antics with the “Insta-Course” in 2012 and the “Exacto-Putt” in 2013.

And the campaigns continue to deliver:

2012

2013

Altogether, the efforts average a 140% uplift in website traffic along with the 80% boost in email subscribers. Not too shabby, eh?

As for the visitors who actually buy the gag product, Divot.com rewards them with a selection of golf apparel, accessories, and equipment along with the original April Fools’ Day item: a great way to turn this joke into a customer acquisition strategy.

Market Research

Market research can be tricky. Google doesn’t have all the answers and customers may not always know what they want until it’s put in front of them. How’s a company supposed to gather important market information? Pull off an April Fools’ Day stunt, of course!

All the way back in 2001, ThinkGeek, an online store that sells “geeky” novelties and apparel, began fooling its visitors on April 1^st with fake, off-the-wall products like this.

The retailer kept up its shenanigans year after year and still participates in April Fools’ to this day. Here’s a history of the brand’s whacky pranks.

Much to ThinkGeek’s surprise, some of the crazy gag products actually appeal to its visitors. In fact, when demand is great enough ThinkGeek puts the most popular items into production and makes them available for sale. Visitors can vote on the products they want here.

Who would have guessed that this Star Wars Tauntaun Sleeping Bag would have been such a big hit?

ThinkGeek is ingeniously using April Fools’ Day as a form of product testing. Here’s what Ty Liotta, ThinkGeek’s Senior Merchandiser, has to stay on the topic:

Geeks hate to be advertised to like they’re idiots. They tend to be someone who is probably more intelligent than the average person. They’ll see right through a bunch of marketing mumbo jumbo.

The pranks allow ThinkGeek to circumvent the “marketing mumbo jumbo” and turn the market research process into a fun experiment that participants truly enjoy. Best of all, ThinkGeek gathers accurate product testing data that works.

Sales

Every organization needs sales to prosper, even the Girl Scouts. Lucky for them, Girl Scouts Cookies practically sell themselves. But for all the non-Girl Scouts out there, sales don’t always come so easy (like with the Boy Scouts Popcorn – yikes!). So, what’s the best remedy for a sales slump? Change it up. Start thinking outside of the bun, like Taco Bell.

On April 1, 1996 Taco Bell placed the following full-page ad in The Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, and USA Today:

Over 650 print and 400 broadcast outlets picked up the story and spread the hoax to more than 70 million Americans, the equivalent of $25 million in free advertising.

Taco Bell’s antics pushed the limits of marketing and inevitably stirred up quite a bit of concern. Thousands of Americans flooded Taco Bell’s headquarters and Philadelphia’s National Park Service with phone calls to see if the story was true.

Despite the controversy surrounding the campaign, Taco Bell ultimately came out on top. Compared to the previous week, the fast food company saw sales increase by more than $500,000. And as if the sales boost isn’t enough, Taco Bell forever has its own place in the April Fools’ Day Hall of Fame.

Brand Management

One of the most important parts of marketing is accurately communicating a brand’s identity to its target market. Just like the clown, most industries have accumulated stereotypes along the way that may oppose the images that businesses are trying to project.

Auto repair shops must work especially hard on earning customers’ trust. Fast food restaurants try their best to convince patrons that their menus can be healthy. Banks have to shake their reputation for being greedy predators. And Blue Corona, a Digital Marketing and Lead Generation Agency, has to show that it isn’t just some boring tech company.

On April 1, 2013 Blue Corona launched a tongue-in-cheek website that offers a “solution” for its customers who are now getting too many leads because of the inbound marketing company’s great work. Here’s a video to set the scene:

The website for LeadStopper puts Blue Corona’s sense of humor on display, especially when visitors try to fill out the form (go ahead and try it, it’s pretty funny!). The comical website generated plenty of buzz, bringing a nice increase in traffic for Blue Corona:

Perhaps the biggest reward was a client referring new business to Blue Corona simply because he “liked the style of the LeadStopper video.” This validated Blue Corona’s original intention of showing its playful nature and debunked the stereotype that tech companies are dull. In the end, it was the brand’s personality that wooed the new customer.

April Fools’ Gold

Whatever goals you may have for your brand this year, consider how April Fools’ Day can help you achieve them. Whether you want to find new email subscribers, conduct market research, increase sales, or communicate your brand’s identity, pulling a prank may actually be just the thing you need.

[notification type=”alert-info” close=”false” ]What other April Fools’ Day marketing stunts do you know of? Share them in the comments section! And be sure to sign up for our newsletter at the top of the page to receive more articles like this.[/notification]

Image Sources: Bearded man by Joe Futrelle, Stunned by Casey Fleser, Girl Scout Cookies by bandita, Clown by Randen Pederson, Biggest BSer by Mark Vegas

Credit card companies are notorious for offering abysmal customer service. Year after year the credit card industry ranks among the lowest in customer satisfaction. As a result, cardholders condition themselves to expect very little from a market dominated by under-performers.

Standard practices are so bad it’s laughable (and extremely depressing):

• Long call center wait times with terrible music or, even worse, advertisements trying to make the company look good. (News flash: no one calling a customer service center suddenly changes opinions based on some pre-recorded sales spiel)
• Frustrating automated systems that have attitudes
• Unhelpful representatives who play hot potato with customers, “Please hold while I transfer you to the 5^th different customer service agent.”
• Upselling customers on a new card when all they really want is help resolving a problem. (Second news flash: no one calling a customer service center wants a new card)

Despite the overall reputation of the credit card industry, there is one provider who consistently stands out and strives to break the mold: American Express.

In 2013, consumers rated American Express the highest in satisfaction among credit card companies for its seventh straight year.

So what makes Amex so special? Check out these three success stories from customers and see why the credit card company is deserving of its J.D. Power award.

Get Up Close and Personal to Your Customers

Author, speaker, and consultant Peter Shankman does a lot of traveling and uses his American Express card to pay for his trip expenses. After evaluating how Shankman uses his credit card, American Express mailed a replacement card that would be especially beneficial on his international excursions. When Shankman asked for an explanation, here’s what Amex said:

Mr. Shankman, we notice that you take multiple overseas trips per year. If you look at your new card, you’ll notice a little PIN chip embedded in it. In virtually every country but the United States, the PIN chip method is the preferred, and much safer way of paying for a transaction. We also noticed that the last time you were overseas, you were unable to use your card at an automated Metro station, because your card lacked PIN chip. We noticed this with several of our customers who travel overseas, so we’re implementing a PIN chip system for those customers. Since you’re one of them, we hope this will make your international travel a little easier.

Amex used the information it collects on Shankman’s purchasing habits to anticipate his needs and address problems quickly. American Express didn’t sit around and wait for its customers to complain before resolving this issue.

Shankman goes on to describe his take on the experience:

There was no charge, they didn’t even ask me if I wanted it. No forms or paperwork. Amex simply saw an opportunity to make my life easier, and they took it. End result? I got off a plane in Stockholm last month, exhausted from a red-eye flight, and walked over to the subway station. Instead of having to wait in a line 25-deep for the one customer rep there, I slid my PIN enabled card into the credit card slot, and had a round-trip ticket in my hands in five seconds. That’s ease of use. That’s customer service. I can tell you that I couldn’t do that with any other card I carry.

Get to know your customers. Keep track of their habits, preferences, hobbies, interests, lifestyle, etc. Ask questions, observe, and learn. Then use that information to deliver exceptional customer service.

Make Results More Important Than Protocols

With 21 years of experience as a customer service expert and professional speaker, Shep Hyken has seen it all. So, to amaze the guy who wrote the book on amazement must count for something, right? Well, American Express did just that.

A representative called me to verify some charges in the last 12 hours because the pattern looked as if my card had been compromised. Sure enough, there were about a dozen charges from the other side of the world that I had not made. Someone had stolen my number and was going on a spending spree.

The customer service representative assured me that I would not be responsible for any of those charges and that I would receive a new card within 24 hours. The only problem was that I was going to be in Dallas that evening, staying at a hotel for a speech the next morning.

But that didn’t deter her at all. She simply asked if it would be okay to send the card to the hotel. It would be there by 10:30am at the front desk. Wow!

This story shows the freedom that American Express gives its customer service representatives to solve their cardholders’ problems. The agent focuses on results (The customer needs to get his replacement card) rather than protocols (Company policy requires that I send the card to the address on file).

When customer service rules don’t service the customer, break the rules.

Take a page from Virgin America’s book and empower employees with a judgment playing field. Give agents flexibility to experiment and throw out policy (within reason) to deliver exceptional customer service.

Hire People Who Love People

Alison Risso, Director of Marketing and Communications for REAL School Gardens in Washington, D.C., recounts an incredible story of customer service from years ago that left a life-long impression.

One summer in high school I took a trip overseas and was camping on a beach in France when my traveler’s checks were stolen from my tent. I managed to find a payphone in a parking lot, called American Express, and explained (in very poor French) what had happened.

The operator switched to an English-speaking representative who made sure of my safety and assessed the situation. “How many checks were stolen?” I didn’t know. “What is your location?” I didn’t know.

I was on a beach that went on for miles and I’d struggled to find the payphone. I went on to describe where I was as best as I could, and the agent asked me to wait for 30 minutes. In the meantime, the representative stayed on the line with me and helped me practice my French.

28 minutes later a car drove up; the driver asked me my name and had me sign for a brand new batch of traveler’s checks. After a brief exchange with the customer service agent on the payphone, the driver escorted me back to my tent, showed me my location on a map, and confirmed that I still had my passport and other belongings!

What’s remarkable about this story is the great lengths the agent took to help a card member in her time of crisis. If there were ever an instance when “I’d like to help, but my hands are tied,” would have been reasonable, this was it. Even simply sending new traveler’s checks to a nearby location would have been good customer service.

But this customer service representative went well above and beyond the call of duty. Why? Because the agent genuinely cared for Alison’s wellbeing. No training method can force employees to care about customers. Empathy, kindness, and compassion can’t be faked. Hire individuals who already demonstrate these qualities and amazing service will come naturally.

Alison explains the impact the experience has had on her:

Looking back on it, I understand now that it was much more than good customer service. It was a person making sure that an idiot teenaged girl in a foreign country was okay.

I’ll always be grateful to that American Express employee and the courier who took it upon themselves to help me.

Don’t Get Derailed

American Express carries a history of high quality customer service, but it appears that its strong reputation has been waning as of late. Despite receiving a J.D. Power award in 2013, MSN Money includes Amex in its “Hall of Shame” listing for the very same year. What gives?

It turns out that in 2013 Amex engaged in “unfair billing tactics” and “deceptive marketing” that harmed its customers. As a result, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered America Express to refund an estimated $59.5 million to more than 335,000 consumers. Furthermore, American Express turned its attention to developing and promoting new credit cards; this change in focus resulted in a noticeable hit to customer service.

What’s the moral of the story? Don’t get derailed.

Don’t be distracted with short-term tactics that momentarily increase the bottom line. Customer service is what will ultimately keep a company in business.

Customer service is king.

[notification type=”alert-warning” close=”false” ]What customer service lessons have you learned from American Express? Whether it’s bad, good, or great, share your experience! And be sure to sign up for our newsletter at the top of the page.[/notification]

Who happened to see this Comcast commercial? (Turn up your volume; it’s a little quiet)

Anyone else throw the nearest object at the screen and yell, “Lies! All lies!” upon hearing such blatant falsehoods?

If not, then you must be one of the lucky few to have evaded the plague that is Comcast customer service. When Comcast says it cares about its customers and instead does things like this, this, and this, it’s clear that the company has an identity crisis.

Despite efforts to paint itself as a customer-centric organization, Comcast’s true colors show through. There’s a very good reason for Google’s second auto-complete suggestion when searching “Comcast customer service.”

To be honest (someone has to be, right?), Comcast is an easy target; the disparity between its promise and performance is huge. Plus, terrible customer service sticks out like a sore thumb.

Unfortunately, recognizing a brand identity crisis isn’t always so obvious, especially when nothing appears to be “wrong.” Without any immediate red flags it’s tempting to assume everything is in good order. But ignorance is not a solution, and an identity crisis is nothing to take lightly: it singlehandedly keeps companies from becoming great.

Are You A Hedgehog or a Fox?

The fox is a cunning creature, continually thinking up of new tactics to attack and eat its prey. And of all its targets, it’s the little hedgehog that somehow manages to foil the fox’s efforts. What’s the hedgehog’s secret? Rolling up into a protective, spiny ball. No matter how many different schemes the fox employs, the hedgehog faithfully turns to its only defense strategy and always escapes!

Doing one thing exceptionally well is much better than doing many things with mediocrity.

In his book, Good to Great, business consultant Jim Collins studies 1,435 good companies to see which of those organizations become truly great over a 40 year period. During his research, Collins finds that the proverb penned by the ancient Greek poet Archilocus some 2500 years ago aptly applies to modern day businesses.

Companies who pursue many strategies at the same time are foxes and suffer from identity crises. Scattered and unfocused, these organizations fail to achieve greatness.

On the other hand, organizations with a single, unifying framework are hedgehogs. Undeterred by distractions, hedgehog companies relentlessly focus on doing one thing extremely well and ultimately become great.

Of the 1,435 companies that Collins evaluates, only 11 (less than 1%) are great! The other 1,424 are distracted foxes, trying to be all things to all people.

Greatness requires a steadfast devotion to maintaining a clear brand identity. And clearing up an identity crisis requires an understanding of all the parts that make up a brand’s identity.

The Three P’s of Brand Identity

A brand is one of the most valuable assets that a business can develop, and sadly, it’s also one of the most misunderstood. There are tons of thoughts on branding floating around the interwebs, but few successfully encapsulate the entire meaning of the term.

Definitions are either too narrow (e.g. a brand is a company’s reputation) or too vague (e.g. a brand is a company’s essence). These explanations aren’t necessarily wrong, but they aren’t complete either. Hopefully this can help resolve the confusion. Brand identity is comprised of three components:

Here’s another way to put it:

1. Principles

Brand identity always begins with establishing foundational principles that forever guide the organization. These values supersede an organization’s industry, so a trucking company and a clothier may very well share the same core tenets.

Choosing the principles that drive the company doesn’t have to be a difficult, drawn out process. Consider what values are personally meaningful, and select the most important one or two. A single guiding value is best, but holding true to two core principles is also possible (just be wary of the fox syndrome!). Customer service, quality, transparency, attention to detail, low prices, fast delivery, and convenience are a few examples of principles.

Also, it’s important to know that some tenets may conflict with one another and, thus, are mutually exclusive. For example, it’s impossible for a business to value both low prices and quality. At some point the organization will have to compromise one of those principles in favor of the other. Keep this in mind when selecting principles.

2. Performance

Performance naturally flows out of principles. Everything a business does must come back to its core principles.

If a company values fast delivery, then the impact of that principle is company-wide. HR must hire employees whose skills support fast delivery, engineers must design products that can be delivered with speed, operations must develop processes that enable quick turnarounds, marketing must offer value to customers with fast shipping options, etc.

Performance is the way a company lives out its principles.

3. Promise

An organization’s principles and performance give context to the promise the organization makes to customers. Everything a company says must come back to its performance.

“We know that you really value getting your products quickly, so we’ve made fast delivery the core tenet of our company. We’ve developed a unique relationship with our delivery service providers that enables us to ship twice as fast as our competitors. We guarantee at least two-day shipping on ANYTHING we have in stock.” The promise a business makes to its customers is always backed up by its performance and principles.

Making promises that conflict with the company’s foundational values is a sure way to set unrealistic expectations for customers. The Comcast commercial promises exceptional customer service, but the company cannot back up its claims because its core principles and performance don’t support customer service.

“Maybe Comcast made changes to its principles and now values customer service!”

That may be the case, but until Comcast’s performance catches up to its principles, the company will never be able to deliver on its customer service promise. Principles and performance must be in place before promises can be made.

With all the pieces of a brand in place it’s time to take a look at your own brand identity and see if its suffering from an identity crisis.

Identify Your Identity

In their efforts to dispatch all the villains terrorizing the world, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, and Clark Kent share one common struggle: balancing two polar opposite identities in their lives. Fending off the Joker and other nemeses is more than a full-time job, so it’s no wonder why these superheroes’ personal lives suffer so much.

Brand identities are no different. If employees don’t operate under a unifying brand identity or a brand continually changes its identity to appeal to a wider range of customers, then the organization will eventually break down. So how can businesses determine if they suffer from an identity crisis before it’s too late?

1. Identify what’s valued in word

When companies launch, it is common practice to draft core values, mission statements, company vision, etc. Begin identifying your brand’s identity by looking at these mantras and listing the principles that are expressed in writing by the organization. But some businesses never explicitly say what values guide them. If this applies to your brand, you may want to consider drafting a clear, concise statement that demonstrates the brand’s core principles. Writing out these tenets gives them permanence and power.

2. Identify what’s valued in deed

What a company shows it values is even more important than what a company says it values. With your written values statement in hand, evaluate the goals of each department to see if they support the company’s principles. Look for actions and decisions that the business makes that don’t align with the values. Where there’s inconsistency, there’s an identity crisis.

Chances are good that you’ll find at least one case of an identity crisis within your organization (remember, over 99% of companies in Good to Great had identity crises). The key is making it the highest priority to correct identity crises once they’re identified.

Be a Disciple of Discipline

The secret to righting the ship when it goes off course is to make a never-ending commitment to your brand’s core tenets. These company principles must be the lens through which every employee sees the world. Keeping this values statement front of mind requires constant reminders.

Write it on the walls, put it on the letterhead, include it on the email signature, announce it at the beginning of every meeting, incorporate it into advertising, tattoo it on every employee’s face; whatever it takes to ingrain the principles throughout the entire organization. When you think you’ve said it enough, say it again.

When you’re not reminding everyone of the brand identity, you must be disciplined in identifying when the company is drifting away from its identity. Unless you run a small business where you have your hand in the majority of its inter-workings, this will require the help of internal brand advocates. Enlist the department heads to help the brand stay true to its identity by being on the lookout for crises and correcting them immediately. With each division of the company being responsible for itself, this frees you up to encourage your brand advocates to not lose heart and keep fighting the good fight.

Don’t forget: the effort of maintaining a clear brand identity is rewarded by elevating your company from good to great.

[notification type=”alert-info”]Liked what you read? If so, sign up for our email newsletter at at the top of the page to get updates on our latest blog posts.[/notification]

It’s impossible to scour the Internet for business marketing strategies without stumbling across some “thought leader” ranting and raving about the importance of social media. Today we focus on Twitter in particular:

[notification type=”alert-info” close=”false” ]“One Thousand Reasons Customers Won’t Buy From You If You Don’t Tweet”

“Why Your Startup Would Fall Apart In The First Five Minutes Without Twitter”

“How Not Using Twitter Led To The Destruction Of My Company & Life In General”[/notification]

The gloom and doom is scary enough to convince even the most resolute Doubting Thomas to sign up for a bona fide Twitter account: @thisbetterbeworthit

While there’s nothing wrong with chirping Twitter’s praises, there’s also nothing really right with it. No one benefits from all of the posts droning on and on about how businesses need to use Twitter for marketing.

And the “comprehensive” guides out there aren’t any better. These walkthroughs jump right in and immediately prescribe best practices without even considering the possibility that Twitter may have its failings.

Like a terrible click through rate.

Terrible might be an understatement. So what’s causing this poor CTR? Look no further than all the jam-packed Twitter streams.

In June of 2013 Twitter reported that its 230,000,000 active users tweet over 500,000,000 times a day or about 2.17 tweets per user, per day.  Twitter users follow 102 accounts on average, so that means around 221 tweets fill up their streams daily.

Giving attention to every single one of those 221 tweets day in and day out simply isn’t feasible, even for the most adept social media managers. Long story short, users are getting flooded on Twitter and can’t keep up with it.

The Bad News
No one is paying attention to your tweets.

The Good News
No one is paying attention to anyone’s tweets.

“In the Middle of Every Difficulty Lies Opportunity” – Einstein

The silver lining is that Twitter tweets everyone equally (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Tweets from Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and the rest of the rich and famous get buried in their followers’ streams right along with those from users like you and me.

Advertisers (and apparently disgruntled customers) find it difficult to get noticed, so Twitter provides an opportunity for exposure with its promoted tweets.

Unfortunately, most users don’t have the cheese to throw at this “opportunity” and are brought back to square one, trying to tweet the loudest and most frequently with hopes of attracting an audience. That never turns out well (see the top two reasons users unfollow on Twitter).

So if promoted tweets and yelling for attention aren’t the answer, what’s the real opportunity in the middle of this difficulty?

Listening.

The common misconception is that Twitter is best used as a megaphone when in reality it’s more valuable as a stethoscope. Twitter isn’t a sounding board; it’s a listening room. Instead of searching for the right words to tweet, search for the right influencers to follow. Building relationships with influencers on Twitter will help you broaden your own reach and audience.

Dedicate time to read and respond to these influencers’ tweets. Check out the blog posts they share. Explore the articles they mention. Read all of their tweets. And when something genuinely strikes your fancy, leave thoughtful comments on their blogs, retweet to your followers, and reply with a “thanks for sharing!”

Don’t fake it. Don’t overdo it. Don’t expect anything in return. Just engage with these influencers and build relationships based on common interests. In a social network dominated by talkers, it’s the listeners who will stand out.

Even influencers are happily surprised when followers read and respond to their tweets.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but how do I find these influencers?”

BuzzSumo. BuzzSumo is a very powerful search tool that finds influencers on Twitter. The beta version of the app is currently being offered for free, and I highly recommend taking advantage of this valuable, new service. Here’s a great tutorial for getting started on BuzzSumo.

Now let me be clear that I’m not suggesting abandoning tweeting during this time of “listening” to influencers. After all, Twitter wouldn’t work too well if no one ever said anything, right? Continue to tweet funny quips, interesting articles, and thought-provoking questions. The activity will help attract new followers and engage current followers.

But when it comes to what you tweet, there’s only one catch: no tooting your own horn. Links to company blog articles, advertorials, sales pitches, recent business achievements, and all other forms of self-promotion are off limits (I admit, I’ve been guilty of this!).

Twitter isn’t the place for promotion; you have to take these types of tweets elsewhere.

Take Your Tweets To South Beach

There’s no doubt that LeBron James owes the start of his successful NBA career to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but to position himself for even greater success he needed to “take his talents to South Beach” and join the Miami Heat.

It’s not that LeBron’s level of play improved simply by virtue of changing franchises, it’s that the Heat provided the necessary components for a championship team that the Cavaliers couldn’t offer.

Twitter is the Cleveland Cavaliers: a great place to start, but not where championships are won. Clevelanders have even coined a phrase that parallels this nicely (or maybe not so nicely).

“Welcome to Cleveland. Now go home.”

Success begins with following and building relationships with influencers on Twitter, but winning a championship requires taking your tweets to South Beach: email.

It’s Not Stalking, It’s Research

[Seriously, though, don’t stalk anyone]

After engaging with the influencers you’re following, the next step is to send each of them a personal email asking them to review your company, new service, blog post, etc. (whatever you would like to promote). It’s important that you’ve created a bond with your influencers; otherwise they won’t take any time to consider what you have to say.

There’s no magic number of interactions or amount of time that guarantees you’ve established rapport, so you’ll simply have to assess where you stand with each influencer as you interact with them. Eventually you’ll have to track down email addresses. If you’re lucky, this may require nothing more than a quick visit to their websites. In most cases, it will require some detective work.

1. Verify the email address domain

The domain portion of an email address comes after the @ symbol (@blog.usimprints.com). Domains of company email addresses usually match the company’s website domain. So if you know where the influencer works, then you can verify the domain by finding the company website (blog.usimprints.com). Some websites even list employees’ email addresses (score!), but if not then proceed to step 2.

2. Google the email address domain with the influencer’s name

It’s surprising how powerful a Google search can be. Type in the email address domain in quotations followed by the influencer’s name (“@blog.usimprints.com” Jason Biddle) and start looking for a match. Be ready to dig deep in the search results; it may take a little effort to sift through and find the influencer’s email. If the Google search comes up empty, then proceed to step 3.

3. Verify the syntax of the local part of the email address

The local part of an email address comes before the @ symbol (jason.b@). At this point you know the name of the influencer whom you are planning to email and the email domain. The local part is the only missing piece. There are a variety of conventions that companies use for the local part: jasonbiddle@, jasonb@, jbiddle@, etc. If you discover the syntax (or pattern) of the local part, then you’ll know how to complete the email address. The best way to find the local part is to conduct the same search in step 2 but with a different employee’s name (“@blog.usimprints.com” James Curtis). Finding another employee will require some searching on the company’s website, LinkedIn, Google search, etc. If you can’t find other employees, then proceed to step 4.

4. Guess and check the email using Rapportive

Rapportive is a very useful plugin for Gmail and Google Apps Mail that verifies contacts based on email addresses. Once the app is installed, trial possible email addresses with different local parts and check Rapportive to see if it provides a match. To help out your guesswork, use this spreadsheet.

With email addresses in hand, you can now draft a personal message to your influencers that will grab their attention. Tweets go unread but emails don’t. Plus email carries greater importance because it is a much more intimate and personal form of communication than a tweet that’s sent to the masses.

If you’re struggling to find the right words to say, here’s a sample email that might give some inspiration:

[notification type=”alert-warning” close=”false” ]“Hey Jason!

I’ve been reading a lot of your blog posts lately and really dig your stuff.

I know you specialize in customer relations and sales, so I’d love your opinion on a new product I created that helps companies offer better customer service. Here’s where you can give it a trial run [insert link].

Let me know what you think,

[Your Name]
[Your Twitter Handle]

P.S. I especially liked the article on how Valentine’s Day can be used to strengthen customer relationships. In fact, I took your advice and sent gifts to my customers as a way of saying thank you to them (it was a big hit!). Here’s what I sent! [Attach image of gift].[/notification]

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Asking an influencer for a favor may seem like a long shot, but your chances are much better than you’d think. And if you’re turned down the first time, then your chances improve even more that you’ll get a “yes” for the second favor you ask.

“Second favor? Why would I ask for a second favor if I was turned down the first time?”

Because a research experiment by Daniel Newark of Stanford University shows that saying “no” one time is hard, and saying “no” a second time is really hard. The results are really surprising and, more importantly, in your favor.

So get out there and build relationships with influencers!

[notification type=”alert-info” close=”false” ]What Twitter lessons have you learned? Post a comment below and share your insights![/notification]