Lobcast Podcast: Marketing Resolutions & Raspberry Mocktails

STEPHANIE: Hello and welcome to the Lobcast Podcast: Mixers and Marketing. I'm Stephanie Donelson. Your hostess with the marketing mostess. And I'm the senior content marketing manager here at Lob. And I'm thrilled to be joined by our own Samantha Braverman, demand generation marketing manager. Sam, mind telling our listeners about you and your marketing background?

SAM: Sure so I've been with Bob for a year and a half and previously worked in another high-growth startup, and I watched them go from a unicorn to a public company. And I come from the event marketing world. Pre-covid, one event marketing looked very different, and I got the opportunity to flex my digital marketing muscle. When the world locked down and events became digital. With my event marketing background in mind, I have an affinity for physical, tangible marketing, which is what initially attracted me to Lob in the direct mail space. Shortly after I joined Lob, I pivoted from an event marketing to a demand generation role where I now oversee our top of funnel campaigns.

STEPHANIE: Awesome well, welcome to the show, Sam. So, listeners, if you want to make today's complimentary beverage or complimentary beverage, we're making a fun raspberry mocktail that requires only four ingredients. So for a single serving, you'll need about 10 raspberries, a quartered lime, eight mint leaves, and sparkling water of your choice. You'll put the raspberries, lime, and mint into a glass muddle together for about a minute and then top with sparkling water and stir and add ice and a garnish if desired. So cheers, Sam!

SAM: Cheers!

STEPHANIE: All right. So we're just a few days into the new year and I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty confident in our team's 2023 goals and strategy for this year. So you and I work pretty closely together. So I thought it'd be fun to sit down and talk about some resolutions we can set for ourselves that can positively impact the entire team. So let's get into it and start off with the trend of new year and new you. So are you thinking about learning a new skill or refreshing your skills in a particular area this year? For me, I think one area I really want to work on is strengthening my skill in PC copy or advertising copy. While I love writing ebooks and blog posts, sometimes I know I can get a bit wordy and could use some practice in cutting down on my word count and getting straight to the point. So what about you, Sam? Any skills you want to develop this year or strengthen as part of your professional resolutions?

SAM: Yeah, definitely. I'm a big resolution girl, so I'm glad you asked this question. But first and foremost, for professional goals, I want to continue to become more knowledgeable about the operational piece of our marketing engine and with that become more efficient in our MarTech systems. With the help of our outstanding teacher and Marketo guru here at Lob, I have learned a ton this last year, but I still have a lot more to learn, so that's going to be a big focus for me in 2023. Another one of my goals is to be more bold. Something I've been experiencing the last few years. And I think a lot of marketers are experiencing this too, is the cycle of one tactic or content format or even channel working really well for a few months. And then you start taking big bets on it and all of a sudden it's not delivering results anymore. And from what I've been reading and even experiencing firsthand is consumers are losing interest a lot faster than we used to as we find the next best thing, which due to covid, is happening at a much faster pace since the world has gone almost completely digital. So with that being said, I'd like to flex my creative muscle and try to not only stay on top of trends, but even beat trends so we can get a lot more life out of what is working at the moment. And I probably start pretty conservatively and test quirky or bold messaging in an email subject line or social post, something a little bit more low stakes before we take it big. And maybe, Stephanie, we can even make our TikTok debut and make a viral video with whatever bold message we decide.

STEPHANIE: Ah no. You're going to help me choreograph the new dancing sensation, The Lobster. Otherwise, my dancing skills should stay behind closed doors.

SAM: We can arrange that.

STEPHANIE: OK. OK, I'll make that a big bet for 2023. Watch our listeners will be making our Lobster debut. But since we are talking about skills we want to work on, I think this leads nicely into marketing trends so we can understand how to apply those skills. So I did a quick search and found some articles talking about marketing trends for 2023, and there were a few that kept popping up over and over again. So a few of them include short form video or live streaming, human focused content, influencer marketing, a focus on UX and the customer experience, agile marketing, social responsibility and reputation, which we will talk about at the end, and then podcasts, which we're already ahead on this trend. But let's go through that list a bit more in-depth and let's start with video and live streaming. So an article on Adobe noted that the average user now watches 19 hours of video content every week, and I am terrified to prove that stat wrong by checking my YouTube history and finding that I watch way more than the average viewer. But I digress. Video content is huge and the Adobe article went on to say that video is the top channel for B2B marketing. The article continues by saying that video content should be 10 minutes or less. So, Sam, do you have any plans to increase video content in your marketing plans here at Lob or how do you think we could leverage video more effectively?

SAM: Yeah, good question. We currently host a handful of webinars throughout the year and use the recorded sessions as on demand assets. These sessions are usually around 45 minutes to an hour long, and they're jam-packed with thought, leadership, best practices, research, back data, all extremely powerful content. However, consumers like you mentioned, Stephanie, don't always have an hour to set aside to watch video. It's probably closer to about 10 minutes. So it's no surprise. The other day, I read that short form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy. So I'd like to use the on-demand webinars and splice them in to easily digestible bits and share them on social, or even try embedding the videos and email and see if that drives conversions. I'd also love to test out video on a direct mail piece, and I know that sounds kind of crazy, but imagine if you got a piece of personalized mail, scanned the QR code and there was a personalized video on a landing page to you. How cool would that be?

STEPHANIE: That'd be really cool. So since that was such a great idea, what are some other creative use cases you think marketers will use video for this year?

SAM: I think marketers will lean on things that feel hyper-personal as it becomes increasingly difficult to make human connections digitally. So I was onboarding with a software company a few weeks ago, and our onboarding specialist had this PIC embedded video on her email signature line. That was about 30 seconds long, and it showed her tap dancing and sharing some of her passions outside of work. And by the end of the short video, I felt like I only knew her. Not only knew her so much better, but I felt more connected to the brand because they provided me with this human experience. You don't get that every day. And I also want to note that the video was also very high production value, which made me feel like the brand really prioritized human connection. And I think videos like this are a great tactic for maybe a post-webinar touch featuring the hosts or even for sales folks to introduce themselves to a prospect in an email sequence.

STEPHANIE: No, totally. I think that's actually in one of our upcoming blog posts where we talk about, you know, the automated customer journey and how you can slot direct mail in. And that was a great example of, OK, someone's in a nurture stream. Here's a great way to get them off of online and into offline by sending them a postcard that then sends them back to the website so they can re-engage. And I also agree, I think those personalized video introductions are a fantastic way to use the channel. At one of my previous organizations, I really wish we had added direct mail to our nurture streams, not only just to break up the cadence up because I mean, you know, we had streams of an eight series email nurture stream that it's like, OK, even though we've got a few weeks between, it's still a lot of information clogging up your inbox. So had we added a direct mail piece like a postcard with the URL or QR code that took people to a personalized landing page that introduced them to their regional sales rep or pulled in resources specific to their viewing history. And then they had an easy way to set up a meeting. I mean, that would have been a great win for everyone. I also think that another way we could creatively use video is to send out personalized recap videos after webinars or meetings with sales reps. It just makes it a little bit more human and shows that we are paying attention. Which kind of leads us to the next trend feel-good content or human-focused content. That Adobe article showed that nearly 95% of consumers are more loyal to brands that are transparent and genuine, and 75% would pay more to support genuine brands. I think at Lob we do a pretty decent job of putting our humans first, which is a bit funny seeing as we work in direct mail automation. But seriously, we talk a lot about the people that power loves products, our commitment to sustainability and doing good through Lob.org. So, Sam, do any other brands come to mind that come to mind to you that focus on people and use empathy and relatability well.

SAM: Yeah one that sticks out to me is Patagonia. And I think a lot of people heard the recent news that Patagonia founder gave away the company and effort to fight fight climate change. I think I read that they make around $100 million a year and they're using 100% of profits to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe. So I looked at their core values. And these are just a few of them, but they want to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to protect nature. And as a conscious consumer, this matters to me. I want to support Patagonia even more now than I did before, not only because I love their products, which I do, but I feel as if their mission to protect the environment in that mission. They're also protecting meat and their consumers. And that really means a lot to me.

STEPHANIE: No, it's a fantastic example of a brand going beyond business transactions and influencing real change. Speaking of influence, let's talk about influencer marketing. So according to an article on Asana, 93% of marketing professionals use influencer marketing to increase brand awareness, build trust, reach their target audience, drive conversions and connect to a wider market. Sam, have you ever come across an example of a brand using influencer marketing really well, and what was the impactful about it?

SAM: Yeah, definitely. I'm on social media a lot, so I definitely interact with a lot of influencer generated marketing. But I'd say there are two types of content I follow on social media. I follow a lot of dogs and pet lovers and a lot of cooking and baking enthusiasts. So there's a little insight as to how I spend my time outside of work baking with my dog. And from a baking and cooking perspective. There are two brands that really stick out to me that have used influencer marketing and ultimately won my business by doing so. And those are material kitchen and King Arthur baking. If you're not familiar with material kitchen, they have colorful, high quality, sustainable pieces ranging anywhere from cutting boards to mixing Bowls to knives. And my initial exposure to this brand was through the many content creators. I follow that use their colorful cutting boards. And I saw half of the videos I watched were filmed right on top of these cutting boards. And before you know it, I felt like I had to have those cutting boards too, if I wanted to become a good chef. So I bought them six of them. They're beautiful and I actually recommend kits. They are a really great pop of color in your kitchen and they're actually really great pieces. I also see a lot of bakers using King Arthur flowers and various King Arthur products for making breads, desserts, et cetera and now when I'm confronted with several sour options at the grocery store, which I never really even realized, there were multiple options before, I would just always buy and store store brand ones. I actually tend to go for King Arthur now because I talented bakers who swear by King Arthur products. But with all that being said, I think these brands do a really great job of partnering with relatable, trustworthy influencers. The influencers I follow make wrote reliable recipes and create content that I can relate to, and those are the people I'm going to trust to make product recommendations to me.

STEPHANIE: No, definitely. I'm going to be passing your recommendations on to my husband, who's the baker of our family. I'm only allowed in the kitchen to help make sauces and do prep work. But I also agree I'm also a big follower of a lot of pet accounts. Doug the Pug. Morty the Misfit. Any dog channel, I'm going to be coming. But I think there's a really great point about, you know, those bakers, they're relatable, they're trustworthy. You know, that they're not recommending these products just because they're getting cash handed to them behind the scenes. They might be, but they've still proven themselves that you want to trust their judgment, you want to use the same products they are as that they're using because you feel like it's going to make you a better baker, which while I'm sure that pop of red or purple or whatever color scheme you got does enhance your baking skills, I'm sure the things you've learned by watching them has also helped. But you know, as a marketer yourself, you kind of know that behind the scenes look, I like that influencer content, but it still works on people like us. So Sam, are you more moved by a brand's message that leverages influencer marketing or user generated content? So UGC, the stuff that's made for free.

SAM: Yeah I'm a I'm a fan of authenticity. So I trust the if I trust the influencer and I know they have a proven track record of sharing quality products, I'm on board with that. Same goes for user generated content. However, for some reason, when the brand reposts the content, for some reason it feels less authentic to me. I don't know why. What about you, Stephanie?

STEPHANIE: I'm going to go with influencer marketing here just because I think the production value is a bit better. And it feels like time was invested into it. Like you mentioned earlier with the email signature line video, you know, you felt good because the production value was there. You trusted that they spent the time making it. They cared about it. And while UGC definitely has its place, I'm a huge proponent of it for certain things like social media videos or sharing testimonials or even sharing, you know, customers that go out of their way and make YouTube videos about how to use a product just because they're so passionate about it. That is a great opportunity for that brand to leverage that type of content, even though the person wasn't compensated for it. But if the brand is focusing on acquisition, that's where I'm more likely to pay attention when it's someone I know or recognize. Like you said, with your earlier baking examples, you trust those people. So I'm going to go where the leaders go, right? So speaking of where the leaders go, this kind of ties back into the customer experience. So I want to pivot the question about UX and the customer experience to direct mail as that's what we do. Sam, do you have any tips for how marketers can ensure a seamless experience from a direct mail piece to the brand's website to improve conversions?

SAM: Yeah, I love this question, Stephanie, and I think this connected experience is a very impactful one that a lot of marketers are trying to crack the code on right now. And if you can crack the code on this, it could very easily be one of your biggest drivers of conversions. So I like to think of this experience in two ways. The first is sending a mail piece to a customer and directing them to your website or landing page through a link or a QR code from that physical mail piece. I think we're all pretty familiar with that notion. The best way to improve conversions on this mail piece to website experience would be to simplify and personalize. And the easiest way to do this at scale is with a direct mail automation software. And if you have the technology, at a very minimum, I would call out the consumer's name on the mail piece. This will grab their attention right away. And from there you can add additional levels of personalization, such as imagery offers or even custom links and QR codes to send them to a personalized web experience. Making sure the visual concept is consistent online and offline is key to making this connected experience stand out. And you also want to simplify the ask. Make sure there is one clear CTA, not a ton of additional fluff on the mail piece. Anything extra can be added to the web page. That way, if they're interested, they can choose to keep scrolling. Putting too much information on the mail piece is going to be overwhelming and they might just recycle the mail piece through. So now I want to look at this in reverse. I just described an experience that went from mail piece to website. Now let's talk about going from website to mail piece. As a B2B marketer myself, I see this as a goldmine of conversions. So imagine you're searching for a direct mail automation provider and you just visit our website, lob.com, and took a look at our product and pricing pages, which to us are high intent pages. But you did not book a meeting to learn more. Maybe you sleep on it for a couple of days, you continue your research and then you go check the mail a few days later and a postcard arrives that says, hey, Stephanie, we see you're interested and x, y, z, why don't you scan the QR code to talk with the sales rep in a world that's highly, highly digital. This is a customer experience that stands out from the noise and will surely drive conversions, especially when combined with your other channels like email.

STEPHANIE: I think that's something we talk about so much on this podcast, right? We direct mail is a fantastic channel, but it's not something that exists on its own. It really works best when you pair it with other marketing channels and use them in tandem to get people to the same goal. Just like omnichannel marketing, we can't have all of our channels sending people to different places. They should all be focused on the same campaign or same end goal. All right. So moving on to the next item on our list was agile marketing, which I think has been a trend for the last few years. The agile methodology works by using rapid iterations rather than one big projects, and it focuses on transparency and collaboration through visual workflows and frequent touch points. Sam, I have to give you huge props as I think you're doing an excellent job at leading the charge on bringing agile to our marketing team. You've always made sure our team gets together to do a postmortem and actually talk about what worked, what can be improved, and what needs to be tested. Because I've been on other teams that as soon as the project is done onto the new thing, like we never took the time to actually be like, oh, shoot, these PPC ads did nothing. So are there other agile practices you think our team could benefit from?

SAM: Yeah first of all, thank you, Stephanie. And I can't take credit for this, but one thing I'm particularly excited about trying this year is sprints. I'm new to the world of sprints but as a small but mighty team, I am definitely bought into the concept and I really can't wait to see how this helps us manage our workload and hopefully Excel faster than we were before.

STEPHANIE: Cool so say you were on a different marketing team that use agile and you're making iterations to a campaign and you're thinking of adding direct mail to your marketing workflows. What kind of metrics or data should would you be looking at to figure out where direct mail fits and how to trigger it?

SAM: Yeah, good question. And we're big data people on the demand side of the house. So as my teammates say, your data is only as valuable as the decisions it enables. So to start off, if you have or address data, I would focus on bringing that up first because you want to make sure your mail is delivered to the right people. You can use a data provider to append your data and then an Address Verification software like Lob to further verify the data. And if address data is something you're lacking, I would also recommend incorporating the ask for this data throughout your customer journey. And once you have your addresses, I would look at the goal of the campaign to determine when or why you would trigger a direct mail piece. Some call me behaviors. You would trigger a direct mail piece off of our things like abandoned carts, if you're in the retail space, key moments in the customer journey like subscription renewals or anniversaries or like the example I mentioned earlier, Stephanie, site visits to high intent pages. But again, I would also look at what digital touchpoints you're going to trigger to complement the physical touch points you want to orchestrate a true, multichannel or omnichannel approach to realize the highest return on your campaign.

STEPHANIE: No, I think those are all fantastic points. In previous episodes I've talked about, cart abandonment is a perfect opportunity for direct mail, especially if the path to purchase is a little bit longer. Right? like if it's a last-minute sale, obviously you're not going to get a piece of direct mail in time for that person to take advantage of it. But like, if I'm looking on an airline's website and my trip is still like six months out, you have time to win. By midwin, my business, even if I leave your site, I know you're going to follow me around PPC ads. I know I'm going to get that email. That's like still looking at booking that trip. Send me a postcard. And if you're Southwest airlines, a drink coupon or two and I'll come back and finish my booking. And I also think, you know, you talked about subscription services and that was another example I've used on the podcast before. You know, I had a beauty subscription service that I ended up canceling. They know what I bought, they know what items I've rated highly. Send me a postcard that features pictures of those and say, hey, looks like you're probably out of this particular product. You sign up today and we'll include it in your next shipment. I'm probably going to come back. But let's move on and talk about new marketing tools and tactics to put these trends to work this year. So if you resolve to try one new marketing tool or tactic this year, what would you choose?

SAM: If I were to try one new tactic, I would probably like to experiment with geofencing. And if you aren't familiar, a geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real world geographic area, and within that geofence you can target people with digital ads SMAs you name it. So specifically, I'd like to try this around a big conference or event that we're attending. So if we sponsor a MarTech conference and have a booth, it would be really cool to send ads to attendees that are in the area to make them aware of Lob before they get to the booth. That would probably really help make the conversations easier once they came to the booth. Another example of bringing offline and online together to create a connected experience is using this geofencing. So that's really my focus and that's something I'd be interested in trying.

STEPHANIE: No I love it when a brand does geofencing well, especially at events. Yeah, at a previous company I worked out, we used to give out socks at like industry trade events and conferences and word would spread like wildfire that we had them. But it was like, you know, maybe if we didn't have such a great location, it would be great to have a geofencing ad pop up that's like, hey, come have a conversation with us. We also have, you know, pens, ebooks or now printed out ebooks essentially ready for you. Come get your pair of socks, but have a conversation with us as well.

SAM: Yeah and I will note, Stephanie, socks will never go out of style. I have been in charge of many swag projects and socks are always the most popular thing and you can even make fun like puns and you know, jokes on the tag. Like, let us help you start your new year off on the right foot. Yeah, I mean, come on, how fun is that?

STEPHANIE: It was the craziest thing I've seen. Like the only other brand that I worked for that had a hotter item than our socks was canvas tote bags. People would come, but I swear there was someone who came by and got like 10 of them. But after a while we were like, you're going to start paying for these. All right. So let's move on and talk about something else that we talk about quite frequently at Lob: A/B testing, which I'm expecting will continue to be popular in 2023. So Sam, what A/B tests are top of mind for you to run this year?

SAM: Well, I write a lot of marketing emails and the last thing I want is for people to unsubscribe. So I want to make sure I'm speaking to my audience in a way that intrigues them and encourages them to actually read my emails. So I would start with some simple subject line testing and gauge their interest in tone. Do they respond to direct results driven messaging or fun attention-grabbing messaging? I don't know. Yeah we also recently went through rebrand, which I think you're familiar with Stephanie. And as a part of that, our CTA buttons have changed. So I'd be curious to test different colors in the CTA to see if certain colors drive more clicks and emails and landing pages, things like that. Anything that will drive a conversion I'm there for.

STEPHANIE: I love that and I agree. I think actually email A/B testing for subject lines is one of my favorite things to do because it just gives you so much insight into your prospects, your customers, you know, do they actually open when you lead with a question? Do they open when you lead with a stat? Do they respond to positive messaging? Negative messaging like all the FOMO stuff? And some audiences do. Some audiences don't. And even certain segments in your audience respond differently to those kinds of messaging. So, A/B testing is crucial. So Sam, in your experience in demand gen here, what personalization efforts have you seen be the most effective?

SAM: So I'm actually going to flip this question and tell you when I've seen personalization be the least effective. So hear me out. But when your data is bad, it makes personalization more of a liability than an asset. Personalization works best when it's accurate to no surprise. And if you're not confident with the cleanliness and accuracy of your data. Start with the basics. First name, last name, even company. And make sure you're always able to replace bad data with an alternative variable. Just make your personalization work for you. That's where I would start.

STEPHANIE: Yeah, I've seen, I've gotten quite a few emails where they forgot to put a fallback in and so it's immediately like, hey, first name and like, you can even do like friend.

SAM: Exactly.

STEPHANIE: So what kind of personalization variables would you love to run tests on this year?

SAM: In addition to basic personalization, I would like to test personalized URLs on our direct mail pieces as well as personalized imagery. These factors to me personally make a market stand out. And I think will drive conversions because they are what drive me to act on a mail piece.

STEPHANIE: Well, like I said earlier, you know, I love doing A/B tests on subject lines. And as a content marketer, I love, love, love, testing, specific words and CTAs, the use of first-person versus second-person and copy. I remember reading this marketing trends report one time that showed an uptick in click through rates by using first-person language on CTA buttons and emails. I don't remember if they said the rest of the email has to be in first-person, but the button at the end was definitely like, I want to do blah-di-blah. And they saw an increase in conversions because it sucks you into the email a little bit more.

SAM: Noted.

STEPHANIE: So I know you talked a little bit earlier about, you know, using personalized URL. We talked a little bit about QR codes, but what about QR codes as part of our testing? Do you think we'll see more brands try their hand at QR codes this year?

SAM: Yeah, definitely. I think we're going to see a ton of QR codes this year because again, seamlessly connecting the offline and online experience is what's going to create a great customer experience. And at this point, I think most people know how to use a QR code, at least a lot more than a lot more than like 3 and a half, four years ago. But is there not everyone, I should say most people, but we're not only seeing QR codes on mail pieces, but I've seen them on billboards, I've seen them on real estate signs, and I've even seen them replace fan cams at sporting events. So where there used to be someone, you know, operating a camera and looking for people in the crowd. Now you can scan the QR code on the video board and actually like Livestream yourself onto the big screen.

STEPHANIE: How fun!

SAM: And that's super cool. And again, it's personal. It's giving you a chance to be a part of the experience. And it's also really easy to do so. It is really people see them.

STEPHANIE: I love that. I mean, I want a better front-facing camera maybe before I do that, but that is a really cool use case for it. And again, it just makes that human connection. It makes you feel a little bit more connected to whether you're at an event or you're in a marketing campaign, what have you. All right. So we talked about some cool use cases for pulling people in. We've got people engaged with our marketing campaigns. Now it's time to measure the performance. So what about metrics for these new channels and these new strategies? You know, our next campaign can only be successful if we know what went well in the one before. So are you planning on tracking any new metrics this year or laser focus on any.

SAM: Yeah my focus is here to do more with less. So I'm really laser-focusing on driving conversions but the least amount of resources. So I'll need to keep an eye, a close eye on programs that use budget. And if they aren't converting, I will need to make adjustments and pivot really fast. And I'll also need to optimize my low-cost campaigns like email to make sure that those are bringing in a lot of MQLs. And I'll specifically focus on what drives people to engage with an email like again, messaging and a subject line, what types of content they like to engage with, things like that. And I'd also like to do a better job of segmenting content to speak directly to the appropriate audience for a better chance of conversion. I think that's something we can definitely do a little bit better here at Lob

STEPHANIE: No, I think segmentation is the name of the game in marketing. No matter where you work, you know, it's so easy to say like, OK, this is just my general set of customers, but you're still going to have smaller segments of customers within that. And so making sure that you're sending them relevant messages to the right people at the right time, like that's really what it's all about. And for us, you know, part of that is by understanding our customers and their values. So speaking of values, our last topic for today is sustainability and marketing. So, referencing that article on Asana, again, it showed that over half of US consumers now factor values into their purchases, and 65% of 65% of consumers are willing to pay more for goods from brands that demonstrate social commitment. Examples of social commitment include promoting recyclable packaging, promotions that spread awareness on societal issues, directing portions of profits to charity, advocating for social justice, and running one for one campaigns to donate products to those in need. And at Lob I feel like we're doing quite a few of these already by sending carbon neutral mail, planting trees with Eden Reforestation Projects, and donating to charity and offering reduced pricing for nonprofits, and advocating for social justice. Sam, do you think there's even more our brand could be doing in this area?

SAM: Yes and no. I mean, always Yes. But I'm really proud of the social impact initiatives launch has focused on. It's definitely a large factor that initially Drew me into law as an employee, but what I'd like to see us do more of is actually share these things publicly. I think our commitment to the environment and our community is a big draw to other like minded companies and individuals. And I want people to associate Lob with our social impact focus areas. And like we talked about earlier, Stephanie, having shared values with a brand can be a big draw to becoming a customer. So I'd like to know wear all of this loud and proud, let everyone know what we're doing

STEPHANIE: So we should change our logo color green to show we're replanting trees and using them appropriately.

SAM? Should we rebrand agin?

STEPHANIE: I think the design team will probably kill us. But are there any other brands besides our own that stick out in your mind that share their social impact or sustainability messaging well?

SAM: Yeah, I'm going to fall back to that Patagonia example again because everything they do is focused on how they're going to support the environment they live and breathe social impact and they wear that loud and proud. I don't think you can leave their website or store without saying something. What? that messaging?

STEPHANIE: Do you think we'll see an uptick in marketing teams coming to us to help them with their environmental, social or governance goals, also known as ESG?

SAM: I hope so. When it comes to physical marketing materials, waste is always a concern. It probably always will be. But at Lob, we've cracked the code. And I think one eco -onscious once eco conscious teams learn what we're capable of. They'll definitely want to see how we can help them reach their ESG goals.

STEPHANIE: That's so true. I mean, I expect we'll see an uptick in uptick in direct mail, especially since we do send carbon neutral direct mail. As the conversation does get bigger around the carbon footprint of digital marketing. I've seen so many articles popping up about that. It's not really something that we think about a lot like, Oh well, yeah, everyone always has a computer plugged in all the time and it's like, get that, how much energy is that? Use it. Whereas it's so easy to look at paper products and be like, oh, well, this is a waste when it's no, we've put in that effort, we put in that time to make sure that everything we do is offset. All right. So, Sam, I'm going to kick it over to you for our closing remarks. Any final thoughts you want to share or anything you want to talk about that we didn't get to today during the episode?

SAM: Nothing in particular comes to mind. I'm really excited about the outlook of 2023 and I can't wait to check my mailbox every day and see what a creative and sustainable direct mail, direct mail campaigns people are sending. So keep those direct mail campaigns coming. I love them. But, you know, Thank you so much for having me, Stephanie. It was super fun chatting with you.

STEPHANIE: Thank you for joining us. All right. To our listeners, thank you so much for joining us for drinks and to chat about marketing. If you're resolving to set your team up for success with an omnichannel marketing strategy in 2023, please feel free to download your complimentary copy of our e-book, the modern marketer's guide to omnichannel marketing and lobdemo.co/omnichannel that's lobdemo.co/omnichannel. Our next Lobcast Podcast episode will focus on timeless marketing tactics as we sip some tequila sunrises. As always, you can browse our library of episodes over at lobdemo.co/lobcast. Thanks for listening. And that's all, folks!