When I heard that Dina Riccobono at MarketLeverage was participating in Operation Shoebox, I wanted to help.  Being in California, I can’t really participate with her and her group, but I can tell you all about it in hopes that some of you are in the Orlando area and can help, or alternatively, would like to make donations for future package parties Dina plans to host.

Operation Shoebox puts together care packages year round for our active troops, and ships them out either on a one-time basis, or directly connects you with a troop (1 solider = a troop) to interact with for the duration of their tour. While Dina wanted to help as many troops as possible, she really didn’t have the budget to shop for 50 troops herself…so she enlisted the help of some friends. They sent letters, emails, tweets – all asking various companies to donate their products for the packages. They solicited non-perishable items from friends, family, dentists, and co-workers, put out ‘Op Boxes’ in their offices to collect supplies, and stocked monetary donations to assist with shipping costs (the most expensive item for Operation Shoebox by far).

So far, Dina and her group have been able to get donations from the following companies:

• Xshot – 53 of them!
• DoYouPoken.com – 108 Pokens!
• Pingo.com (Brian Hawkins) – 200 International Calling Cards
• Quaker Oats – 50 Gatorade Vouchers
• GBL Public Relations for Pentel – Hundreds of Pens, Pencils, Hats, and t-shirts.
• FujiFilm – 60 One-Time Use Cameras (SeeHere.com)
• CharmFactory – 60 American Flag Pins
• TheDistrictDish – Matchboxes
• Burn Cream MD – Medical Supplies
• Orlando Ichiban – Space for the Packaging Party with Discount Sushi and Drinks

It’s not just companies getting involved.  Dina has been able to attract some individual sponsors as well:

• Drew Bennett of BenSpark.com
• Various members of the MarketLeverage team
• Vanessa Swanepoel of PokenGirl.com

The packaging party – where they will organize all 50 shoeboxes and put the sponsors items and donations together for individual shipment to the troops – is TODAY in Orlando!  If you’re near Orlando and want to help, Dina and her group are happy to have you!. Orlando Ichiban has been kind enough to donate space to use to put the boxes together, and also some discounts on food and drinks. They will potentially live stream this packaging party, and then Deb Schroeder and Dina will drive all the boxes to Operation Shoebox HQ the first week of December and hand deliver the packages. She’ll be filming that journey as well.

Please, if you’re in the Orlando area or know anyone who is, go help them out.  It’s a great thing they’re doing.  You can also organize something similar in your area.  You can go to OperationShoebox.com to adopt your own troop.  Dina hopes to do this quarterly if all goes well this time.  If you’d like to sponsor any items or donate funds for shipping, you can reach out to Dina directly at dina-at-marketleverage.com.

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Checking my email last night I noticed some ingenious, personalized email marketing campaigns that I think more businesses should consider (including my own). I felt the need to share these as case studies. There’s a lot to cover, so I’ll split them up. Hopefully I can continue to do these case studies to give props to what works in marketing and why.

The Company: Expedia.com: I’ve always had great service and luck with Expedia, so they’re my go-to travel site when referencing flight prices, hotels, etc.

The User History: a few days ago I booked a cruise vacation with some friends out of Port Canaveral, 60 minutes or so outside of Orlando. The trip isn’t for almost a full year, so I wanted to just get an idea of flight prices from Oakland to Orlando. I headed over to Expedia to just check out the price ranges and get a feel for how much I’ll have to put aside for a flight. Since the trip is next February, I don’t plan on actually making this purchase until sometime this summer or next fall.

The Subject Line: Find your flight to Orlando backed by our Best Price Guarantee.

The E-Mail:

The Effectiveness: It’s directing a sale that they’re already running to me, a person who has already shown that they are interested in this particular destination. The email contains just enough text to show that it’s paid attention to my user habits and is offering it’s help without trying to make a super hard sale. The links are targeted and there’s not much in the email that’s off topic (see the Seattle to San Francisco rates in the yellow box – unrelated but I don’t blame them for throwing it out there). I do acknowledge that this may be a total coincidence that I happened to be in the market for a flight to Orlando and this routine email may just be perfectly timed, but at least it shows that they do know their audience.

The Result: I honestly think that I may be a bit more likely to make this purchase sooner than I had anticipated because of this email. I am a little bummed that the sale advertised doestn’t lower the price any more than I’d already found on the website (which was probably a sale price in the first place). I will definitely keep an eye out in regards to their Best Price Guarantee, a service that I never realized they offered until receiving the email.

So in conclusion, email marketing can be effective, even when sending to other marketers. It’s always a great learning experience to pay attention to the emails you get and think to yourself, “What can I learn from this?” and apply what you’ve learned to your own job. It’ll improve your performance and you’ll be better off.

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