10 Marketing Tips to Ponder

1. Know your audience. Successful campaigns get that way because marketers know their audience. They fully understand their needs, how to help meet those needs and how to create demand. Knowing and understanding your audience through proper market segmentation means a well targeted campaign that generates a profitable return.

2.Focus on the offer. A marketing offer is the driving force of marketing promotions that drive results. In fact, market testing has proven that the offer is the most significant criterion for conversion. Focus on your offer if you want to be successful.

3. Split test. Never ever run a campaign without testing something. One of the most common is a split test which allows you to simultaneously test two versions of something. It can be a web page, post card, or email. Split testing is essential for improving performance.

4. Never work alone. The most creative ideas come from working with other creative people. Don’t feel like you need to have all the answers or great ideas. You may start with an idea, but an open dialog with creative individuals will make it better.
5. Don’t sell on price. I’ve seen so many marketers fail because they sell on price alone. This leads to a discounting war, lower profitability, and often bankruptcy. Rather, focus on creating so much value that the perception of price becomes insignificant.

6. Consistent messaging. Consider the entire user experience before you launch a campaign. From mail to website to offer, is the prospect having a consistent user experience? If they are, your campaigns stand above 98% of others.

7. Create value after the sale. As marketers, it’s our job to understand our market segment and build relationships, not dump people off at the front door of our store and walk away. Focus as much of your energy on building relationships with customers as you do prospects.

8. Test. Test. Test. In addition to split testing, you should consider multiple forms of testing in each marketing discipline. For direct mail, test headlines, offers, copy, time of direct mail drop, etc. Consider testing a life long mission.
9.Integrated Marketing Works Best. You can’t rely on one form of marketing to carry you to success. It’s okay to generate most of your leads or sales through PPC marketing if you will but what happens when that dries us? Use multiple media sources to meet your goals.

10. Nothing can replace experience. You can run out and hire all of the best consultants in the world, but you still have to do the work. Nothing can replace actual experience. It will make you a stronger marketer and more successful in the long term.

Apply these helpful marketing tips if you want to be truly successful. These techniques and tips are applied by successful marketers on a daily basis. The result is an ever growing success rate of marketing success

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The Green Green Grass of Home
Kudos to one of America’s neighborhood lawn care companies that reaches beyond the traditional “pay, spray, and pay” service offer.   Their envelope is sent by a local agent whose signed letter includes his card displaying his friendly portrait, phone and website.   In addition to the “deal”, the agent also includes a set of address labels adorned with verdant images of trees and flowers in full bloom.   25% of the sell sheet is devoted to environmental tips.   The special hook is the company’s promise to support the Arbor Day Foundation with a tree planted for every new customer signed.   Compared to two similar self mailers sent by competitive companies, this piece is hard to put down.

It’s Hockey Playoff Time
Timing is a significant factor in direct mail.    While you may calendar significant dates in the production cycle, get beyond your own agenda.   What’s happening out there with your reader?   Anticipate the effects of national holidays, election days and upcoming sports and media events.   Watch your mail plans as closely as you watch your investment plans. Did someone say Lord Stanley Cup will pay another visit to the Pittsburgh Penguins?

Don’t Go To The Well Too Often?
The Cygnus research found that over solicitation is the #1 donor complaint. It’s also one of the top three reasons donors stop giving. Ask your donors how often they want to be solicited. Many have set giving schedules. According to the survey, 23% make gifts once per year and another 21% make gifts on a regular schedule. That’s 45% of your donors.

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Lust
Of course you crave more profits. But trying to appeal to everyone all the time isn’t the way to boost sales. You must target your efforts. Forget about all the people who aren’t interested. Focus instead on the 5 to 10 percent of your list who are. These are the leads you’ll convert into sales.

Pride
Your company mission statement may bring tears to your eyes. But all that proud, chest-thumping verbiage is just empty noise for your prospects. Face it. People don’t care about you, your company, or your product. They only want to know what you can do for them. So talk about benefits and save the corporate banter for your annual report or the golf course.

Problem, what problem?
Which sounds more appealing?    Winning money, or reducing debt?    Try to give meaning to your promotional offer by getting beyond the simple cash benefit.   Compare for example, “your savings is a thousand dollars.” with “we’ll pay your gasoline bill for the next 6 months”.   A local radio station is currently running a promotion where their current tagline is: “The station that pays your bills!”    Much more attractive than “you may win up to $500.”

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Eight reasons why direct mail still works click here
by Lois Brayfield   MultiChannel Merchant
Feb. 1, 2010

Eight points that show why this old-school strategy still works.  Multichannel marketers today tend to get caught up in the frenzy of the next greatest trend. What about Web 3.0? What’s the hot social networking application? How do we make our e-mails more effective?

Sexy online strategies are and should be a big part of direct marketing. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore some of the old-school tactics, like direct mail.

That’s right, direct mail.

Sure, it may be true that mail pieces are much more expensive than e-mails, thanks to rising postal and paper costs. And many marketers and consumers alike often perceive direct mail to be old-fashioned and downscale.
But when used wisely and analyzed carefully, direct mail outperforms many tactics, particularly with prospects and certainly with many customer segments.
Newer technologies may excite and preoccupy the marketing team, but direct mail works.
Still not convinced direct mail should be a part of your overall contact strategy? Here are eight points that illustrate how and why direct mail remains alive and well in the 21st century.

Intrusive
Unlike your Website, direct mail is an “active” format. Customers may find their way to your site, but a catalog or a direct mail piece in their mailbox is an intrusive tap on the shoulder that online-only activities don’t allow.
While e-mail shares the intrusive nature of direct mail, e-mails can get overlooked in a crowded inbox. Plus, consumers are conditioned not to open e-mails from unknown senders for fear of viruses or other technical catastrophes. And direct mail won’t get caught in a spam filter.

When done properly, a good direct mail piece will stand out even in a crowded mailbox, grab customers’ attention and incite them to act. That’s the intrusive nature of direct mail that no other marketing tactic can emulate.

Tactile
There’s something to be said for appealing to the senses. Direct mail delivers a tactile sensation that online activity can’t.
You can feel a mail piece in your hands. You can hear an envelope or tab tear open. You can see the images and key messages on the printed page. You might even be able to smell it! Websites and e-mail cannot compare to this experience.
The physical nature of direct mail forces customers to take note. And if we do our jobs effectively, the piece will pique their interest and encourage them to spend more time with it.

In bricks-and-mortar retail, the ability to touch and experience the product increases the likelihood of a sale. It’s the same with direct: Even though it’s not the actual product in the recipient’s hands, a mail piece still activates the tactile senses.

Targeted
At its best, direct mail is targeted to the customers most likely to respond. Whether you are speaking to prospects or customers, the best way to reach a specific audience is through direct mail.

But many marketers do not take full advantage of print’s ability to target — not only with lists, but with customized messages. With simple black plate ink changes, you can tailor your direct mail creative to different lists — best customers, lapsed customers, even prospects. You can target customers based on specific activities and microsegment prospects.

The more targeted the message and the list, the better the response. In fact, if you’re not customizing your print products, you may be wasting your efforts and creating “junk mail” that won’t get noticed.

Varied
While the cost of some direct mail, particularly catalogs, continues to rise because of postal increases, direct mail offers a wealth of other format options. Depending on the segment and on what you are asking the recipient to do, a postcard, self-mailer or three-dimensional package can get results much like a catalog — sometimes even greater.
But few mailers think out of the box with format and function. Direct mail doesn’t have to be solely about getting a sale.
For instance, how are you thanking customers? One marketer sent a 3-D “thank you” mailing to its best customer segment, adding significant incremental sales without overtly promoting a sale.

Explore the direct mail formats available to you. Work with your creative team and printer to see how you can find an innovative yet effective format. The more distinctive the format, the more it will stand out in the mail.

Measurable
One of the key reasons direct mail remains a viable channel is that you can test hypotheses and measure results. While metrics are getting better for online efforts, direct mail still reigns supreme on testing, measurement and analytics.
Even for companies that have difficulty tracking source codes, the use of matchbacks can still help you gauge a mailing’s success and analyze overall results. But with the multiple online hits and touches added to the mix, how you measure must change. The question becomes, which of those online efforts are adding incremental sales to your direct efforts? You can’t measure your mail efforts in a void!

Personalized
There’s no question that online technology has made amazing advances in personalization that print can’t touch. But there is something magical about seeing your name in print.

And when a name is cleverly incorporated into a mail piece, the result can be increased sales. Personalization techniques can include working the recipient’s name into a headline, or calling attention to products he or she has previously purchased.

There was a time when personalization was so expensive that it could cripple your ROI. But today’s technology has made print personalization easier and more affordable.

Check with your printer to see what new options are available. Think of personalization not just in terms of “your name here,” but also in terms of relevant and variable data.

At a macro level you can “personalize” a cover of a catalog or an offer on an envelope, based on how a particular customer segment responds.

Even better, integrating the online and offline world can really boost overall response. Consider those marketers who include a personal URL (PURL) printed within the piece. Not only can it increase response, it can also facilitate tracking!

Integrated
Direct mail should not be the only piece of your contact strategy. You should build your mail plan with direct mail as a component, a cog in a larger machine.

Use e-mail to pre-announce mailings or to remind customers of an expiring offer. Push traffic to your Website for convenient ordering. Tie in social media, using your catalog to promote the online presence.

Get creative with integration by producing an offer requiring a tweet response or that asks recipients to sign up for an offer online — anything that pushes a response, not just a purchase. Don’t think of it as a “circulation” strategy but as a “contact” strategy.

Several channels working together is powerful, and there are remarkable advantages. One channel should never replace the other — all should work together to form a unified campaign.

Effective
Direct mail works — period. A recent ExactTarget study conducted by Ball State University revealed that while e-mail plays a vital role in marketing communications, direct mail is still a dominant, prominent purchase driver for different types of customers.

In some cases, 70% to 90% of survey respondents made a purchase based on receiving direct mail — for all age groups.
Direct mail may seem old timey, quaint or even irrelevant. But it’s still an effective way to tap customers on the shoulder and push them into an activity. And while it may eventually be replaced by some newfangled technological innovation, rest assured it’s not going away anytime soon.

But as the cost to produce and deliver mail increases, you can’t continue mailing as usual expecting the same results. That’s not going to work any more: You have to mail highly efficient, targeted and relevant messages that offer customers a true value.

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Pure Play Sees Value of Direct Mail
Jan 25, 2010 4:42 PM, By Tim Parry – MultiChannel Merchant

XSportsProtective.com has been an online seller of action sports equipment since president Jim Bartlett founded the company in November 2005. But if the ROI on its two holiday season postcard mailing campaigns are as good as he thinks, Bartlett says he may go multichannel.

Bartlett says he can see spikes in site traffic activity, online orders and phone orders around the time the company dropped the two mailings. But at press time he was waiting for matchback results from consultant J. Schmid and Associates before determining if they were a success.

Both drops went to house file names, and crossed over buyer segments including seasonality and average order size. The names, segmented by recency, went to buyers who made two purchases within the past six months. In all, postcards went out to about one-third of XSportsProtective.com’s 33,000 names.

The first drop was mailed to 5,000 customers just before Thanksgiving, and offered 10% off a purchase of $50 or more with an expiration of Nov. 30. The second postcard went to 10,000 customers on Dec. 10, with a message that orders placed by Dec. 23 would arrive by Christmas.

“I can see from our analytics that the traffic to our site grew right after the postcards dropped, and that was our goal,” Bartlett says. “Our early indication is that the ROI was positive.”

If that is the verdict, Bartlett says the next step could be a test of slim-jim catalog or a pamphlet-size mailer, something that would show the diversity of action sports the company offers protective equipment for.
“My approach has been to just send e-mails to my house file, and we’ve done that forever,” Bartlett said. “Mailing postcards is more expensive, but if we achieved a positive ROI, maybe we can do a test mailing of a more robust catalog.”
XSportsProtective.com experimented in-house during holiday 2008 with two postcard drops of 2,000 each, and Bartlett said it was “not for a compelling offer.” But based on response and orders, Bartlett says he sought out J. Schmid.

Verified Facts
-The largest percentage of Gen X and Gen Y consumers responded to Direct Mail that features offers such as coupons, percent-off discounts, or other incentives (Vertis).

- Gen X and Gen Y may be the most wired, but they still prefer to receive promotional messages through mail than any other media channel (Exact Target).
- Hispanics, the largest minority group in the US – and the fastest-growing, use Direct Mail over other types of media to learn about new products (DMA).

- Direct Mail is consumers’ top preference for receiving promotional messages from companies which they have never interacted (Exact Target).

B2B Mailing Lists

Often in B2B mailings the available universe of prospects is relatively small.    When you are purchasing an outside list, don’t be concerned if the cost per record is high.    It is far better to reduce your expensive prospecting efforts to the most likely candidates.   Attempting to minimize your cost per thousand by expanding your reach into low potential categories is counter-productive.    In B2B, a well-targeted list is compensated with reduced selling costs, and higher average orders.

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Tried & True

While email is less expensive, it does not carry as much weight.   Consider the story attached from January 12th’s Wall Street Journal.    If you embrace mail, then the next measure of commitment is how well you execute it.
Take a read:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703481004574646904234860412.html

Consumer Involvement with an Integrated Offer

Kudos to Kellogg Company which hosts the Special K Challenge.   The challenge is for you to drop a jean size in 2 weeks.    Just follow the Kellogg diet with appropriate purchases of Kellogg’s product and collect 5 “K-tokens”.    When you mail in the tokens, Kellogg will issue a $10 voucher to buy new, slimmer jeans.    Not interested in the voucher?   Then you can designate it go to the United Way.    And the “former-size” jeans?   Kellogg encourages you to donate them to the local charity of your choice.   This integrated offer captures the essence of a good deal: action, measurable goals, rewards and fulfillment.

What’s Your Opinion?

People love to share their opinions.  Questionnaire mailings often get a very high response.  Keep it to no more than 5 to 8 questions.  Then, put a reply card right underneath it.  After all, your prospects already have a pen in their hands, they will be more likely to respond.

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It Brings out the Kid in Us

It is beyond all rational thought why adults require stickers to indicate choices, when a simple check mark would suffice.   But the fact is, “yes-no” stickers, product stickers, free gift stickers really do work, i.e., raise response rates in a direct mail campaign.   There is something readers find indescribably satisfying about committing with pressure-sensitive.   A word of warning: if you employ stickers, be absolutely obvious in directing your responder: where to find it, how to peel it off, and where to place it.

The Answer I Hear Most Often; Customer Service

Is there anyone who doesn’t offer quality, service and value?    Of course not.    Don’t waste copy space on these toss-off features unless one of them is your specialty.    For that one specialty, back it up with easily read and easily understood, logically built proof.   Your reader needs to be absolutely convinced.

Respond by….

Add a time limit. This almost always boosts response. You can connect the time limit to your main offer or to your premium. One easy way to add this to an existing package or mailer is to create a simple piece of art that looks like you’ve rubber-stamped the deadline. It should be ugly and realistic.

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December 7, 2009
Zappos Tries a Printed Catalog
By STUART ELLIOTT

A company that could be the model for Internet retailing success is peddling goods by paper as well as by pixels.
Zappos.com, the online seller of shoes and other merchandise that was recently acquired by Amazon, is mailing 750,000 copies of a printed catalog to a mailing list of consumers. The catalog, timed for holiday shopping, bears the title Zappos Life and has a fashion and designer focus, offering products like handbags, jewelry, clothing and fragrances in addition to the Zappos.com mainstay, footwear.  Among the brands featured in the fashion catalog are Cole Haan, Guess, Calvin Klein, Lucky, Stila, True Religion and Stuart Weitzman. They can be bought on the Zappos.com Web site or by calling a toll-free telephone number. (The catalog can also be read at zapposlife.com.)

“Different people respond to different media,” said Aaron Magness, director for brand marketing and business development at Zappos.com in Henderson, Nev.

The catalog is the third from Zappos this year; Mr. Magness described the first two as tests. The company is looking at everything from page counts for each issue (48 for this one) to the paper weight.  One lesson is that “our lapsed customers have responded very well” to the catalogs, Mr. Magness said, referring to shoppers who have not bought much lately on Zappos.com.

The catalogs are published for Zappos by King Fish Media, which also works for marketers like Bank of America and I.B.M. Although King Fish and Zappos.com declined to discuss costs, a catalog with a circulation of 500,000 to one million could cost $400,000 to $900,000 to print and distribute.

So far, an average order from the catalog is more than twice the size of an average order that began on Zappos.com, said Cameron Brown, president at King Fish in Salem, Mass. “When they went online to make the purchase, they didn’t stop there,” he said of catalog shoppers. “If they went online to buy tennis shoes, they’d also buy tennis shorts.”
According to Mr. Magness, Zappos is planning a spring catalog for 2010 and perhaps others with themes like “weddings, in June, or housewares, around Thanksgiving.”

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”What Makes Sense?”
Mostly we favor the visual sense in our direct mail design: color, graphics and font choices.
But check the other senses too:

-   Touch: thermo chromic coatings that change color; varnishes and UV coatings that are textured.  I’ve seen some really interesting samples.

-   Smell:  coatings with encapsulated scents.   You should try the cinnamon.

-   Sound:  instant release labels with fugitive glue actually crackle when removed.  Or how about “I FEEL GOOD?”

-   Taste:  your BRE envelope flap should be a pleasant experience too.   I always been partial to a chocolate flavored flap myself….

”Tis the Season of Giving”
You should test it, but odds are you will find that adding premiums to an offer will out pull a price discount on the same offer.    If people already like and know your product, discounting is not the silver bullet.

“Is it Half Full or Half Empty?”
Raise the bridge or do you lower the river?  An occasional repositioning of your offer may flush out a different type of responder to your traditional mail program.    For example, after the changing climate for credit card marketing, we were intrigued to receive an offer of membership, as opposed to an interest rate.   In the same vein, another card marketer promoted their rebate and awards program.   “Credit?  Oh yes, we have that too.”

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The Future of the Catalog in America
by John Lenser
November 2009

Recently, I was interviewed by a firm hired by the USPS to explore the role and future of the catalog in America.  This was a tough question since I’ve heard such extreme opinions on the issue.  On the one hand, there are those who predict the wholesale demise of cataloging:  “Gen X should keep catalogs afloat as an effective media for a while longer but Gen Y, because they only read electronic media, will make catalogs obsolete.”  However, others maintain that catalogs continue to play a unique role that will ensure a strong and vibrant industry.

While I suspect that either position is somewhat unrealistic, I personally believe that catalogs will remain an important component of multichannel marketing.  Catalogs and other forms of direct mail will continue to be the most effective form of “push” marketing because they are targeted and accountable.  By push, I mean that it is proactive, intrusive, educates the consumer about products and creates desire.  In contrast, retail stores and websites are “pull” marketing and passive.  The consumer must travel to the store or log on to the website already knowing what they want to purchase.

This contrast was recently pointed out to me by a client who instructed that it was critical to his business to continue to mail a catalog irrespective of response rates.  As a cataloger, he received substantial discounts from his suppliers based on the fact that his catalog served to expose consumers to new product that suppliers were marketing.  Suppliers were dependent on his catalog to drive not only his company’s sales but the sales of many “pull” retailers—both websites and retail stores.  Without his catalog being widely distributed, the consumer would not even know what was new and exciting in his niche marketplace.
As an entrepreneur, I operated a multichannel business with retail stores and a catalog.  Every time I opened a retail store, the response rate to my catalog dropped by 50% in the store trade area.  While it was tempting to simply not mail the catalog in store trade areas—like many other brick and mortar retailers—I viewed the catalog as effective store advertising.  If I could get the catalog to break even in the trade area, I deemed it highly successful—it was free advertising that drove traffic to the stores where I made my profit.  It reached consumers in the trade area who otherwise would never have gone to the mall and seen The San Francisco Music Box Company.

I like to look at e-commerce as just another retail store.  It is open 24/7.  If you need something, you “go to the store.”  If you do not know where the store is, you “go to the yellow pages”—Google.  The retailer reaches out to you via email and banner ads not unlike newspaper ads and billboards.  Just as I used a catalog to drive traffic to my stores, the catalog is today an effective driver of traffic to websites.  The lessons from this analogy are important:

First, the catalog should be constructed with the express purpose of driving web traffic—lots of “bells and whistles” to encourage shopping on the web, as well as presentations of new product.  Simply pick up a Costco monthly mailer to witness a brand builder and store/web driver!

Second, expect lower response rates from your catalog—in effect; they are all mailed into “store” trade areas.  Most spontaneous sales from existing customers on your website or those from emails are cannibalized from what would have previously occurred when you mailed a catalog.  So attribute a portion of the catalogs’ expense to brand building and general advertising.  Many store retailers have cut back on their catalog programs only to find that over time, sales diminished significantly in their stores.

So, will catalogs be viable in the future?  While much of Generation X and Y may prefer pure electronic media, there is a portion that will respond to a catalog—a highly targeted “push” mailing that has a physical presence with a shelf life.  Keep in mind, only 20% of the baby boomer generation drives 80% of catalog sales (the others prefer brick and mortar stores).   I suspect that 20% of X and Y will still read something on paper.  However, be prepared to appreciate the highly synergistic relationship that will exist between catalogs and internet that defies strict attribution of sales and cost accounting.  Also, stop thinking of your company as a “catalog company.”  A truer description is that you are an e-commerce company that uses a catalog as an important advertising medium to drive traffic to your “store.”

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