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In the days before United Fresh 2013 San Diego, most are busy wrapping up last minute travel details, working through long to-do lists and scrambling to get out of town. We will arrive at the convention center next week and instantly be carried away by the dizzying pace of trade show booths, parties, events, meetings and activities that literally happen every 15 minutes. I’ve learned that spending a few minutes of planning before the trip always makes for a more fun, less stressful and highly productive experience.

After all, the whole point in attending a tradeshow like United Fresh is to return from the trip fully inspired, totally recharged and better connected to the industry. While you’re packing, scrambling and tending to last minute show details, I offer you my very own list of things that I absolutely, positively, surely will not miss at this years show. Be sure to check out the official website United Fresh for specific information. Some of the events I’ll be attended are invitation only and have extremely limited seating.

EDUCATION: The Impact of Social Technology on Food Culture
Social media has dramatically changed today’s food culture by influencing how consumers think about, talk about and experience food. Consumers are now active participants, looking to bloggers and online opinions to expand their culinary horizons and make purchase decisions. Hear insights and recommendations on how companies can leverage social media to build meaningful and profitable relationships with consumers.

2013 New Product Award Finalists: Lil Snappers & Pumpkin Pie Baking Kit
Once I hit the tradeshow floor I’m going to check out all of the 2013 New Product Award Finalists. The two that I’m most excited about is our client Sunkist Growers Lil Snappers at booth 828, and AMF Farms Pumpkin Pie Baking Kit.

United Fresh Opening Party Aboard the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier
What better way to start off the convention week than with an unforgettable adventure aboard the USS Midway. Explore one of America’s longest-serving aircraft carriers as you stroll the flight deck with a spectacular view of San Diego’s harbor. It’s the perfect place to relax with friends and catch up with business contacts.

MSNBC’s Morning Joe Duo to Give Fresh Political Perspectives
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe will deliver their signature off-the-cuff commentary at the Thursday General Session of United Fresh 2013. United Fresh proudly welcomes the popular morning show duo for a candid conversation on the current political landscape and how it affects the produce industry.

Retail Merchandising Strategies that Engage Customers
After 20 years advising retail supermarkets on how to engage customers, Harold Lloyd knows a thing or two about merchandising strategies to drive sales. In this interactive session, Harold will share practical insights and proven merchandising strategies that he’s gathered from researching thousands of customers in retail stores nationwide. Come learn why customers shop where they do, what influences their purchases, and simple but effective tactics that will expand their shopping time, increase sales and change buying behaviors.

Visit our Get Social page for an inside peek at the conference and to learn more about all things produce.

The staff at SiteLab have always been all about sharing ideas, learning new tricks from each other and collaboration. The key ingredient to our success is our communication.

Around a year ago, we began to meet officially in an open forum setting, to share our projects and the things we’ve learned from them. This evolved into weekly meetings, and the forming of a team. Then we formed our basic core drive, the heart of this extended marketing team: act as a trusted extension of our clients’ online marketing departments, producing results that directly and positively impact on our clients’ business objectives.

On our website, we state what we’ve gleaned from the expression ‘you are what you eat’: We are what we market. You won’t find a more dedicated bunch than the SiteLabbers — we truly adopt our clients’ industries and products as our passions.

You’ll see us wearing banana hats, sharing new citrus varieties in the kitchen, proclaiming our love for avocados to anyone who will listen, or riding the bikes of our client, Electra, in the parking lot. You’ll find us making the recipes from our foodservice clients (it’s hard to stare at delicious food all day long and not be inspired … and hungry). We can say without doubt that we truly are what we market.

So without further ado, we’d like you to meet the minds behind this ever-evolving, collaborative effort and their roles on this team.

Mike Zemans – Chief Experience Officer

Next stop: Christmas Tree Trimming Championship

Consults on SEM and user experience. Most often, the last word on any project that goes out the door. Google (or “G” as he calls it) is his best friend. Always wins the annual pumpkin carving contest.

Matt Parisi – Online Marketing Account Manager

In a rare moment of not being physically harmed

Account Manager for Sunkist, Oasis of Hope. A source of abundant SEM knowledge; a PPC expert who manages all SiteLab PPC campaigns. Matt gets things done and works well with absolutely anyone. 5 year veteran. Consistently injured due to extracurricular sports, where he brings the same drive to succeed.

Katy McClelland – Client Services Director

If you ever need help escaping from motorcyclists in 1930

Commonly answers to the name “Boss Lady”. Sanity for all account managers, and perhaps all SiteLabbers. Also the voice of reason and the voice for all SiteLab clients, always performing the balancing act between what’s best for clients, their customers and the agency. She’s an encyclopedia of client history. Owns chickens, rides in a motorcycle side car like a superhero side kick.

Jenn Barber – Senior Marketing Manager, Social Media

Liebt auch spätzle

Passionate about social media. Background in business (supply chain management), started in digital marketing as producer, then account manager; dabbled in web design, programming and copywriting. Nuts about social media and started the “department” 4 years ago. Pins on Pinterest like she’s on fire, is a Flint Coney Island Hot Dog enthusiast.

Sarah Johnson – Marketing Project Manager & Developer

Also has a wicked swagger

Sarah’s title doesn’t do her justice. Something of a ‘Jane of all Trades’ at SiteLab, switching from development, writing and design, sometimes all in the same day. She’s a savvy writer who writes the social media, website, press content and more for Sunkist, Eddie Osterland, Master Sommelier and Oasis of Hope. Is crazy for citrus, and ridiculously good looking.

Kari Embree – Marketing Coordinator – Social Media

What happens when you give people a sunny window office and too much water

Jenn Barber’s new right-hand woman. If you want to get social, talk to Kari. She’s all about social media platforms, tools, and tips and tricks AND she’ll recommend a great place to eat and drink when’s she done geeking out with you. Quick witted as a fox, excellent dresser.

Erin Adler – Marketing Account Manager

Is also a bucket enthusiast

Erin has her finger on the pulse of email and mobile marketing. She manages Hass Avocados, Central Garden & Pet, and all sign-up forms and emails that leave our servers. She’s an anti-spam wizard who insists on (and gets) perfection. She’s a music lover and also a lapadar…lapedaris…she is an artist who cuts stone, gems and minerals into neat designs. She’s not just a member of the San Diego Lapidary Society, she’s the club president.

Each person you’ve met here today performs a very important function in the team. We’re growing and evolving every day, but this groups forms a very strong foundation and launch pad to a future filled with exciting, cutting-edge projects. Find out what they can do for YOU and your projects — contact us today.

An Inside Peek at Our Weekly Team Meeting

What a great way to start the new year! This week we have not one but three new things to celebrate:

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHES
This week we launched a new website for Sunkist called Lil Snappers™ (you know, for kids). Things you may not have known about this project – the site uses the open source .asp CMS called Umbraco and includes fun stats like “the world’s largest apple peel was over 172 feet long”.

Congrats to the entire team who worked on this site over the past few months, job well done!

WELCOMING A NEW SAN DIEGO CLIENT
We are very pleased to announce our new client, Cell Applications, a local biotech company whose products help research institutes, biotech, pharmaceutical, and consumer product companies make medical breakthroughs. Looking forward to partnering with them to take their digital marketing to a new level in 2013.

AVOCADOS ARE GREAT WITH EVERYTHING
Last but not least, a new video was launched on behalf of the Hass Avocado Board, it’s a great example of how existing footage can be made more engaging with graphics and editing!

What are you celebrating this week? Let us know!

Finally the tables have turned and the interviewer becomes the interviewee. We’ve been waiting years to put her on the spot and ask her probing questions such as “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” and “Are you a good dancer?”

Last night Ms. Sarah Johnson came out of retirement for a performance in a holiday ballet recital, so in honor of this momentous event we’ve chosen her as the subject for our interview today.

Q: What do you look forward to most about coming in to work every day?
A: That would be my smiling coworkers, nay friends, and the super cool projects I get to do. The coffee is pretty good sometimes too.

Q: Just what is it that you do here?
A: My title is officially a mouthful, I have to go back to my [email] signature to remember what it is. [pulls up email] Marketing Project Manager & Developer (and content writer, cheerleader, I sometimes restock the printer, and I bring in fresh fruit to keep my coworkers from getting scurvy & that’s about it.

Q: What are some cool new things that you do here that you haven’t done previously?
A: I keep coming back to working on cool promotions. I’ve always written about food but people actually listen to me now. Since coming here I’ve become a citrus expert and banana freak.

Q: So, are you a good dancer or not?
A: No, terrible. I can do the Slinky [makes what we assume to be an attempt to signify holding a wily slinky with both hands moving them up and down] I can do the Lawnmower, the Bus Driver, and the Roger Rabbit, and I do a pretty good White Girl Dance, you know [proceeds to snap fingers to no beat and bite lower lip, which we must admit, we do not "know"]

BONUS QUESTION:
Q: How do you spell Changement?
A: Jeupnpioux [note from the interviewer, at first I was questionning whether or not Sarah was a true ballerina since she got the bonus question wrong, but in all fairness I did get a D in high school French so it's possible that I butchered the pronounciation. Pardon moi.]

Ballerina Sarah in action juggling scurvy fighting oranges

Seasons Greetings!

This blog post comes to you from SiteLab’s very own La Jolla Shores beach in sunny San Diego, CA.  It’s been a bi-coastal and fast-paced twelve months of helping clients launch online marketing initiatives for me this year. 

As I reflect on a year of changing technologies and new trends. I am grateful for the wisdom gained pitching the projects that built brands, generated leads, sold products and improved bottom lines. 

 It is with this practical knowledge that I offer my very own Online Marketing Reflections and Predictions. I hope you enjoy reading them as much I enjoyed writing them—it is my wish that these “pearls of wisdom” bring value and prosperity to your organization in the New Year.

Happy Holidays,

Lori Barber

REFLECTIONS…

Smaller Budgets meant Back-to-Basics for Most

The uncertainty of the 2012 economy forced many of my clients to put robust website development and sexy redesign projects on hold. So, to get the greatest bang for their shrinking budgets, the wisest move was to prioritize Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Why?  Because aligning their website’s navigational structure and content to the language of one’s audience positioned our clients to grow long-term market share of ultra-qualified potential customers—something that PPC, online media, or fancy graphical site redesigns can not provide.

CMS Tools Just Keep Getting Better

Open Source technologies and mainstream Content Management tools such as WordPress, and Drupal continued to provide a wider variety of development options for many clients. Readily available plug-ins, themes and widgets replace long, expensive and highly custom development cycles. Hooray! It’s now much easier (and more cost effective) to add social media sharing, ecommerce, email marketing and the like to your website.

Pull Marketing is “The New Black”

Marketing activities that encourage your prospects to seek you out because you have something of value to offer them was a welcome 2012 trend. Pull marketing activities are all about building relationships and include tactics like blogging, podcasting, content marketing and old-fashioned networking. Think of it as the law of attraction for the Internet…where you freely incorporate all the personal components of your brand. By engaging with your target audience to attract your biggest fans, you ultimately PULL them in, create loyal evangelists and drive sales. Gone are the days of “hard-sell” sales tactics.

Reach Your Customers Where They Are

“Reach your customers where they are” was my 2012 mantra! Today’s consumer does not pick up the Yellow Pages, nor do they turn on the radio to find the products or services they seek. Rather, they whip out a smart phone, tablet, or simply check out the latest reviews from the comfort of… well, anywhere. Your clients are connected, mobile and highly social! It goes without saying that Social Media projects were on the rise again this year.

PREDICTIONS…

Content Will Continue to be King

Yes, producing original content is time consuming, expensive and requires a HUGE time commitment. I predict most organizations will have to make creating original content a much higher priority next year. Why?  Because producing content of value (no matter what industry you’re in) is the new, evolving centerpiece of Digital Marketing. Get Ready! It’s time to blog consistently, live-and-die by an editorial content calendar and finally commit to sharing great content.  Just do it.

Responsive Design Should Be On Your 2013 Radar Screen

Day by day, the number of users trying to access your site on a smartphone or tablet grows and grows. Responsive web design represents a fundamental shift in how we’ll be building websites in the New Year so one single site can serve audiences on all devices, as well as centralize one’s search authority to a single domain and set of URLs. Responsive Design requires web visitors to do less resizing, panning, and scrolling, hence boosting everyone’s user experience as well. It’s going to transform the Web into an all-singing, all-dancing, all-devices party, where we can access any information located anywhere in the world. If your website is more than 2 years old, 2013 is the time to invest in a new Responsive Design. Otherwise, you might be missing out on a very large segment of your target audience.

Your Customers Will Want You to be Human

Today’s consumer would much rather “talk to” a person instead of being “talked at” by a brand. Finding the right social media voice—one that aligns with the language of your customers, and provides ongoing value—is one of the most important things your organization will do in 2013.  Be prepared establish a social media persona for your brand and have real people respond to your clients using real profiles in social media next year. Live Twitter Chats, robust content marketing, storytelling in 140 characters or less, and perfecting the ability to gracefully admit that you’ve made a mistake will help humanize your brand in the New Year.

Kim Ochylski is our newest account manager here at the ‘lab. I recently got a chance to sit down with Kim to get the whole story, which was nice, because they usually don’t let me talk to new-hires due to my tales of the cave-creature developers we keep in the closets that come out to feed after dark. Here’s what I found out.

Hi. Where do you come from?
My hometown is San Luis Obispo, but I recently came from The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington DC. People have often heard of it because they sponsor NPR programming.

What title have they bestowed upon you here at SiteLab?
I’m an account manager.

Shown here: account managing it up.

What did you do in DC, and what are you looking forward to doing here?
I worked on our web/media team, working with our public policy staff. It was non-profit. I worked on content development, email messaging, PPC, infographics, imagery, web updates. I’m looking forward to working with clients and seeing their marketing strategies reach customers. But also looking forward to getting back into agency life. And the location is nice!

If we were to inform you that this was actually just a front for Hogwarts School of Wizardry, in which house would our sorting hat place you?
Not Slytherin! That would be admitting I was evil! Gryffindor, for sure.

Safe choice. I’m sure they already went through this in the interview, but how are your Quidditch skills?
They must have missed that question. (Ed: Really? It was the first question they asked me.) My Quidditch skills are lacking, but apparently my Alma mater, Berkeley, now has a Quidditch club.

(Matt chimes in: “UCSD does too! It’s just a bunch of kids running around on brooms. It’s not cool.”)
(Ed. note: Matt’s opinion on what is cool does not reflect the opinions of SiteLab Interactive.)

Welcome aboard, Kim

Remember the 1950’s when it was cool to eat potatoes? You know…when every household in America served meat and potatoes with every single meal? Potandon Produce is on a mission to bring this long-forgotten trend back to life with its new line of potatoes that are super-convenient for modern families with busy lives to prepare.

Here’s the best news of all, they plan to use Social Media Marketing to get the job done. Gotta give props to Barbara Keckler, Marketing Supervisor for brilliantly integrating what was happening offline at the show online with Facebook and Twitter. She successfully raised awareness of their newest products, increased fan acquisition on Potandon’s social networks and even tapped into specially designated hashtags (#), which encouraged PMA attendees to visit Potandon’s booth.

Here’s how she did it. Barbara started with a super-fun 1950’s style diner concept that was cool enough to appeal to Generations Xer’s and New Millineals, but nostalgic enough to appeal to older generations like Baby Boomers. The trade show booth was decked-out like burger joint straight out of the 1950’s, complete with their mascot, a Jolly Green Giant, the back seat of a 57 Chevy that doubled as a sofa, a juke box playing 1950’s music, and formica-topped tables. The girls working the booth wore poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and (my favorite part) BRIGHT RED LIPSTICK! They guys wore back t-shirts, white letterman sweaters and slicked back their hair.

While attendees checked out new products, they could also could also have a seat on the 57 Chevy-sofa and have their photo taken with child acting star, Donny Most who played Ralph Mouth on Happy Days. A few hours later, attendees could retrieve their photo by grabbing it on Potandon’s Facebook Fan Page or email one of the sales reps to request a copy. Brilliant way to increase fan acquisition!

Throughout the show, Potandon tweeted the times when Donny Most was at the booth and available for photo ops using the specially designated (#) Hash Tags for the event. Suddenly, everyone at the show who was following the Hash Tags were alerted that of the opportunity to have their photo taken with Donny.

And there you have it—Day 2 Ends with very sore feet and lots of great marketing ideas.

“Not everyone who needs your service, but everyone who aligns with your values”. That’s what Craig Stern, Co-Founder of SOLO Eyewear, says about who to target when developing your company’s cause marketing campaign.

That’s just one of the insights my co-presenter at iMarketer’s “Social Media For Good & Profit with Solo Eyewear & Sunkist” shared last night on how he built his business, using Kickstarter for crowd source funding and social media to create buzz and sales. If you haven’t heard of SOLO Eyewear, it’s a truly inspiring brand co-founded by Craig and fellow San Diego State University MBA students Jenny Amaraneni and Dana Holliday. They sell eco-friendly, hybrid bamboo sunglasses where each pair purchased help funds a pair of reading glasses and a cataract surgery for someone in need.

Craig and I presented case studies on two very different brands – a San Diego eyewear company that used the funds they raised to bring their product to marketing, leaving them with a zero dollar budget for marketing vs. a billion-dollar-a-year company that is the largest marketing cooperative in the world’s fruit & vegetable industry – however, the same themes arose over and over again.

1. Authenticity
2. Passion

First, to be successful in social media, but especially for a cause marketing campaign, authenticity is paramount. There is not a marketing budget in the world that can touch the power of pure authenticity. It was clear from Craig’s presentation that SOLO “gets” this.

Authenticity is acting in a manner that truly demonstrates your gifts, abilities and talents/skills; not counterfeit or copied; conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief. In both case studies, the featured brands showed their trustworthiness, the cornerstone of cause marketing.

In the case of SOLO, the idea for the company came from 1 statistic – 80% of the world’s blindness is preventable. To demonstrate the belief that their product can actually help shift this powerful statistic, they stood on street corners throughout downtown San Diego (along with friends who volunteered to  help and the SOLO Panda) to educate people.

Sunkist Growers’ Take a Stand campaign, encouraging kids ages 7-12 to raise money for charity “one glass of old fashioned lemonade at a time”, demonstrated authenticity by developing supporting materials to make it easy for kids to actually donate. Instead of just selling lemonade stands in retail stores, Sunkist included QR codes on each box with a link embedded to take them back to the site to see lemonade recipes, lemonade stand decorations and signage, and best of all, information for young entrepreneurs on picking a charity and running a successful business.

One attendee asked how a small business owner, someone who doesn’t have the time or the money to hire a big agency can produce a successful cause marketing campaign. My answer was “passion”.

To have a successful cause marketing campaign, you have to get people excited about the cause before you start asking for money. For SOLO, they did this through the video in downtown San Diego. The blindfolds, the signs, and of course, the SOLO Panda sparked passers-by’s curiosity. It made them want to be a part of the cause.

For Sunkist Growers, they tapped into consumers’ nostalgia for simpler times when lemonade stands could be found in every neighborhood in America on a hot summer day. Most importantly, they gave consumers the tools to raise money and the guidance for choosing a charity, but then they put the choice of which charity to donate to in the hands of the consumers. “We the people” got to pick based on our own passions.

The most important thing I took away from last night’s iMarketers meeting was from Craig’s presentation on who to focus most of your marketing budget on. He grouped people into 4 categories:

A – Those who know, have purchased, and love your brand

B – Those who know, have purchased, but rank it on par with any other brand

C – Those who know your brand, but haven’t purchased

D – Those who are unaware of your brand, products, and services

Most of your budget should go to Group A, with the least amount  to Group D. The reason is the benefit you, the brand, receive from Group A is exponentially higher than Group B (and B higher than C, etc.). Group A L-O-V-E-S your brand so they’re not only most likely to be loyal, but they’re your evangelists to get the word out to Group B, C, and D.

I was truly inspired by the meeting, the topic, and the case studies. To inspire you to create your own cause marketing campaign, I’m sharing an exercise from Craig’s 3-words Thank You Video:

Complete this sentence: Without your business, there would be less ___________, ___________, and ___________ in the world.

For the full case study for Sunkist Growers’ Take a Stand Fundraising Campaign along with tips for developing your own cause marketing campaign, download the presentation, Social Media for Good & Profit: A Cause Marketing Case Study on Slideshare.

The slightly slower pace of Day 3 of the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit conference provided me an opportunity to visit one-on-one with a few of the best Marketing Directors in the produce industry. Since SiteLab has hit a number of Pinterest home runs in recent months, I felt compelled to ask Marketing Directors if their current social media plans include Pinterest. If not, I asked if they planned to include Pinterest in their 2013 online marketing plan. Would you believe that EVERY SINGLE PERSON I asked told me they planned to launch a Pinterest campaign in 2013? It’s true!

Here’s why, what works and what’s next for the produce industry and Pinterest.

Why is Pinterest a great tool for produce brands?
First of all, Pinterest is ridiculously simple to use, is the “Holy Mecca” for busy moms and serious foodies who buy large amounts of food for their families or events. Plus, it’s one of the best social networks for driving website traffic giving marketers an increased opportunity to convert more visitors into leads and sales.

What Works?
Before I spill the beans and tell you what works on Pinterest, let me start by telling you what doesn’t work – expecting early monetization.

This platform, like other social platforms, has a long-term benefit for your brand, and does ultimately drive consumption over time. Invest in building the audience now, and monetize later.

A simple strategy for getting started is to start with a dozen or so boards. This helps brands get past “Pinners Block.” Start by creating 5 boards about things your users love, 5 boards about things they have a hard time finding, and 2 boards about your brand.

Moving forward, make sure you follow these guidelines for success.

• With the fans you have on other platforms, drive them to your boards with content (i.e. specific pins) not a request to generally “join you on Pinterest.”
• Make sure a content marketing plan drives the creation of pin boards and subsequent pinning.
• Remember, recipes drive consumption. Pinning a Banana Bread recipe on National Banana Bread Day, or the very best Guacamole recipe on Game day is sure to be campaign winners.
• Have content live on your boards that people want to see.
• Mix owned content with other content that interests your audience.
• Leverage an one-to-one exchange of pins.
• Optimize your Pins for Search Engine Optimization, including the image file title.
• No need to be an “over pinner”; even the largest brands only pin a couple times a day. If you inundate your followers with an too much content too fast they’ll get annoyed with you filling up their feed.
• And finally—Get your board cover photos right!!

What’s Next?
Once your 2013 Pinterest campaign has taken flight, be sure to watch the data. Which pins are performing the best in terms of engagement and driving website traffic? Do you have highly influential followers? How are your competitors doing? Don’t forget to include targeted outreach to people based on their current usage status of Pinterest. These folks are the greatest online influencers of your brand.

If in doubt, call in the Experts.
Remember, establishing a Pinterest account takes only a few minutes. Building a following that can eventually be monetized takes much longer! Crafting a strategy that leverages all the good things Pinterest has to offer, and provides opportunity for monetization, just might be best realized by engaging the help of an online marketing agency like SiteLab Interactive.

When you’re ready to dive in and start pinning, call me first. I’d be happy to point you in the right direction. Lori Barber 214-906-6633 or lori@sitelab.com.

Day 2 of my PMA journey started with a run. As if 800,000 square feet of booth-to-booth  walking isn’t enough exercise, PMA Foundation hosted a 5K run before the Exhibition Floor opened to attendees on Saturday morning.

The 3.1 mile rolling course started and finished at the Anaheim Convention Center. Early risers stood outside the main entrance of the convention center to cheer runners on as they passed. The event raised over $115,000 and supported PMA Foundation’s mission to attract, develop and retain talent for the produce industry.

After a quick rest and a shower, I walked from one end of the exhibition floor to the other; sampling new products and taking in the impressive trade show booths. I
was also able to partake in a ton of on-the-fly collaboration with the best marketing minds in produce.

Here is the first of an ongoing series of top marketing strategies being used by the produce industry to reach consumers, distributors and retailers.

A Mommy Blogger outreach is a cost effective way to launch new products.

Odwalla is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company. When the time came for Jennifer Brevick, Senior Director of Shopper Marketing to introduce Lemon Ginger, Coco-Walla and Orange Cranberry Original bars to consumers, she organized a mom blogger outreach to facilitate the product launch.  Here’s what made it work; mommy bloggers are a great conduit to Odwalla’s target market, have huge social networks and yield powerful influence with moms and kiddos alike. The upfront marketing costs and resources required to administer the campaign were both minimal. Plus, the campaign concept was über simple.

First, find the most powerful mom bloggers in the country, then host an event and give them an opportunity to sample the product.  Voila! Let the tweets, status updates, product reviews, blog post, photos and keyword-rich content begin! (Okay, it’s not THAT easy… it does require carefully planned strategy and coordination as does any successful social media outreach program).

Product sales almost always increase after a mom blogger campaign. Plus, there’s an added bonus – blog posts, tweets, status updates generated by the campaign provides the type of relevant content that Search Engines LOVE! The additional links back to the site almost always provide an organic lift in search engine optimization.

So what’s the downside? There is a very real risk in turning a group of bloggers loose on your brand new product. Not all reviews are good, and some bloggers are overly critical and biased. In Odwalla’s case, the outcome was favorable, but that’s not always the case.

Like Odwalla’s experience with Blogger outreach, SiteLab (and our clients) has had very positive experiences with the blogger outreach programs we have organized. The most important takeaways we can share from our experience with blogger outreach is to not only measure a blogger’s influence. Don’t forget the power of customer loyalty; include bloggers who are already talking about your brand. And most importantly, treat them like humans. Don’t send out a mass email to hundreds of bloggers. Choose a dozen or so bloggers you think you can (or have) made a real connection with.

And there you have it—Day 2 Ends with very sore feet and lots of great marketing ideas.