Then I think to what another company President said long ago, when his business world was changing just as rapidly, just as unpredictably as ours.

“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”  – Henry Ford, President, The Ford Motor Company

You know, this statement fits my predecessor and partner, HyperDrive’s founder and CEO, Dan Heimbrock, to a (Model) T. Because, not unlike Henry Ford who staked his reputation in the auto industry, Dan went against the traditional advertising agency grain over a decade ago when he founded the area’s first true digital marketing agency based on the single tenet that the customer is now in charge of the brand relationship. Oh, and one other thing, that clarity will always trump creative, so make it relevant.

Obviously Henry and Dan had it right.  They just did it.  And they did it well, and well before their contemporaries.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

So what better President’s Day inspiration for forward business thinking than to draw on lessons from the recent and less recent past? Yes, HyperDrive is celebrating more than a decade in business. A business that, 10 years ago looked nothing like it does today. A business that, 10 years from now will look nothing like it does today. But, thanks to Dan’s vision and the collective talents of my HyperDrive team, we will remain focused on the fundamentals. That, as the world changes, as the digital landscape changes, as brand marketing changes, one thing will always remain … serving the consumer. Effectively attracting, retaining, and growing 1:1 brand relationships with relevant, digital direct marketing as the hub will continue to be a key differentiator and a valued business service and that’s where we’ll be (translate continued higher sales at continued lower cost). Well, at least until Google or Microsoft take us all down, but that’s the subject of a future blog.

By now you’ve probably noticed that I’m a big fan of insightful quotes. So I’ll leave you with two more:

“It’s not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know” – Source Unknown

Or, here’s a more modern way of saying the same thing:

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

“Mobile devices are too dang useful to not be used during the purchase process. Customers can quickly check prices elsewhere while they stand in the aisle. A clear 77% of smartphone owners use their device while shopping.”

“Altimeter Group released an analysis of top brands that use mobile technology to connect with their customers during the retail experience. The data were compiled through online surveys, qualitative interviews and live interactive discussions.”

“They found that a lot of retailers rush into a mobile strategy without regard for goals. Brands that nailed mobile shot for one of two goals: Enrich the customer experience or engage with the customer.”

Key Takeaway: Having a mobile strategy is no longer a question – especially if you’re in retail. The old adage of Location, Location, Location still holds up, just now the location is in the customer’s pocket or bag.

Read the full report on Slideshare

As testament to our devotion, HyperDrive assembled a dedicated team of award-winning professionals who serve Dreamfields on a day-to-day basis. On this team are two employees who work behind the scenes, but their efforts are constantly in the limelight.

Our Dreamfields support team, securely holstered by Lora Lietz and Annette Cohn, work side-by-side to provide health care professionals and consumers with the materials and information they need to tell others about the taste and healthy benefits of Dreamffields pasta via word of mouth and other grassroots marketing programs – including the highly successful “Taste ‘n Tell” consumer-to-consumer sampling and coupon program, with pasta evangelists now numbering in the hundreds.

The best part of this team is Annette works out of our Columbus Ohio office and Lora works out of our new Fulfillment Center at our Loveland location – despite working at a distance of about 100 miles, these two don’t miss a beat. And, that is quite apparent from a letter that Dreamfields Pasta shared with us. It was a thank you letter recognizing Annette Cohn from a Registered Nurse for her over and above customer service for Dreamfields’ healthcare professional network program.

Annette’s modest response to this very complimentary letter was “I helped her with event plans and sent a kit to her colleague, a board member from the fundraiser committee for American Diabetes Association. I enjoy providing support services and information for healthcare providers just as I do for all of our Taste ‘n Tell supporters.”

To further streamline the service for our Dreamfields programs, HyperDrive recently completed construction of a standalone 400 square foot warehouse. Lora packs and ships over 300 kits per week, while Annette provides phone and email support to an average of 10-50 professionals and consumers on a daily basis.

For their outstanding efforts, Lora and Annette will be recognized by their supervisor, Chris Timman, as well as the HyperDrive partners. As a reward, each will receive a crisp $100 bill (that we hope they’ll use to buy lots of Dreamfields Pasta!). Great job to both, you have truly set the customer service bar!

Linda Gillespie and her team of baking and candy experts presented us with a homeade berry pie with a beautiful lattice top.  It took a lot of restraint for the pie to make it back to office, but in the name of teamwork Chris and Ali succeeded. This morning as everyone was rolling into the office, we cut the first slice and proceeded to devour it. Can you say fabulous?

If you would like to learn how to do this yourself, and imputed your digital marketing team, Linda and her team do offer a variety of classes where you can get hands on training on everything from pie making, cake decorating to candy making. Needless to say, they get the Hyperdrive endorsement for deliciousness and expertise!

And now back to launching their new web based ecommerce shopping cart that provides user experience as good as pie….

According to Forrester – The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Vendors, Q1 2012 Report “ExactTarget brings the strongest current offering this year with intuitive campaign management, scalability, automated predictive models, collaboration tools, and an open technology platform that supports third-party development.”  The report goes on to say that Exact Target was an ideal platform for marketers wanting to manage more complex campaigns across multiple channels such as email, mobile SMS, and social media, to name a few.

“It (ExactTarget’s Interactive Marketing Hub) automates segmentation, dynamic content setup, testing, and reporting across high volumes of complex multichannel messages with one of the most intuitive interfaces in the market” says the report, released this week.

HyperDrive provides ExactTarget software and service solutions custom-tailored to the needs of the client. We provide complete turnkey email marketing campaign management as well as assisting clients in software acquisition and platform configuration to enable the most effective and efficient migration to ongoing email marketing success.

Great software doesn’t do anything unless experienced people enable the software to do what it does best. HyperDrive can help you make a New Year’s Resolution to do email marketing right and drive more sales and profits for your brand.

If your email marketing program is failing to produce the results you want and need for your brand, please call us at HyperDrive (513.444.4000) for a no-obligation consultation about your current email marketing strategy.