A lot of people have been asking me lately whether they could better reach their target markets better with email or direct mail. Certainly, email is growing taking some market share from direct mail. So, many businesses have concluded that direct mail is on its way out. I don’t see it that way.
There are pluses and minuses to both strategies, but more important there are big opportunities at stake if you guess wrong.
Email marketing is seeing major growth for some good reasons. For businesses, it’s cheaper, quicker to create, and an excellent platform for testing and measuring. Customers can respond to offers instantly and share with their friends.
As good as this sounds, cataclysmic spam and fear of viruses is keeping spam filter cranked up and prospects too inundated and untrusting to make much of an effort to read the messages.
Direct mail retains advantages as well. In a letter, postcard or brochure, you have space to make your case in as much detail as necessary and a canvas to make it much more creative than email where you must make your points fast and short.
Elaine Fogel, president and chief marketing officer for Solutions Marketing and Consulting, shared this stunning statistic in an article on MarketingProfs.com: offline communications drive 67 percent of online searches – and 39 percent of those searches result in a sale. [My apologies if you have trouble accessing the article because you're not a MarketingProfs.com member. I'll try to find her sources and provide them in a future blog.]
What’s more, according to Fogel, 71 percent of consumers prefer receiving product offers in the mail and 59 percent of businesspeople trust print to email.
Nonetheless, despite such incredible success, the big knock on direct mail remains its cost.
So, what does this all mean for your direct-marketing strategies? You may be seeing where I’m headed. The future the direct mail industry isn’t email marketing eliminating direct mail. Smart marketing strategists will blend the two for a double-barrel approach. They’ll be using both direct mail and email – and other innovative tactics like quick-response codes – to get customers buying online.
How have you been handling direct- mail and -email programs in your marketing campaigns? Let us know your thoughts and experiences.
If you’d like to share your know-how, consider becoming a guest blogger. If you’re interested, contact either of us.
If you’re a business owner you undoubtedly support the idea that that businesses should operate in an environmentally responsible manner. Yet, we also know that there’s more that we could do if we weren’t also responsible for making a profit, going green wasn’t so expensive and . . . Wait a minute, I’m in compliance! I’ve already done a lot. Why should I do more?
I hear you and understand. There are some very good reasons for making your business even greener. Here are four benefits that make taking a few extra steps good business sense.
1. There’s profit in being green. There’s almost always long-term cost savings and possibly tax benefits for investing in environmental improvements, such as solar heating, energy-efficient equipment and lighting, and water-reduction devices. Pile on easy stuff you may not be doing yet – reusable drinking glasses and flatware, refillable ink cartridges, motion-controlled lights, office equipment programed to turn off when not in use, etc. – and you’ll likely score big savings. Plus, a study conducted last year by Cohn & Wolfe found that more than 60 percent of consumers prefer to buy from environmentally responsible companies and are willing to pay more for the privilege of doing so.
2. Eco-friendly policies often make a more productive environment for employees. Employees feel good about an employer who’s concerned about the environment. Telecommuting, in particular, has proved popular among workers and boost productivity as well. (No, they won’t be goofing off at home.) You’re also likely to attract better talent. According to a MonsterTRAK survey, 92 percent of young job seekers prefer eco-responsible firms.
3. Being green is good PR. You want to avoid greenwashing, of course, but you shouldn’t let your environmental responsibility go unnoticed. Start by certifying your company with an appropriate standards organization, such as the B Corporation and Green America’s Certified Business program. Then wear the badge proudly on your website and collateral. You’ll be sending the right message to customers and employees, and they’ll help spread the word.
4. You’ll feel great because it’s the right thing to do. Make other like-minded eco-friendly feel great too by doing business with them. Jay Cohen Gilbert, co-founder B Lab, lays out a compelling case for what corporations can accomplish when they pursue sustainable values. You’ll feel motivated just listening to his “dull” TED talk.
If you’re already well along the green path, thank you. Take the rest of the afternoon off . . . and please switch off the light on your way out.
Promoting your green contributions without coming off as greenwashing can be tricky. Anyone have some good examples or advice on how it should be done?
Have a position on environmental responsibility? Let us know. We’re always looking for guest commentators with opinions?
I’ve heard it almost daily since Day 1 of the downturn. Chief marketing executives at successful companies, experts at top marketing firms and business pundits have echoed the same caution: Don’t stop marketing.
Especially in economically challenging times we must keep teeth in our marketing programs to keep our businesses thriving during the downturn and ready to pounce on opportunities when the economy recovers.
According to Peter Faden of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in Knowledge@Wharton, “As companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers’ minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads.”
Ourbrands are what the free marketplace perceive them to be, not what you and I think they should be. Without reinforcement, they fade. If we’re to keep our brands healthy and growing, we had better be very good at marketing our products and services.
We must keep communicating with customers as much or more than our competitors. None of us can afford to let them dominate the conversation. Relevant and timely communications make our brands to stand out above the noise.
Remaining top of mind is more important than most people think.I assure you that a good percentage of business you gain or lose is simply due to having or not having your message in front of prospects at the right moment.
The number one reason businesses lose customers is perceived indifference.Cutting back on marketing creates the perception that we’re in trouble and makes it easier for customers to be wooed by the competition.
Human beings want to be associated with winners, and people want to do business with companies that are perceived as stable, progressive and successful.
The solution is keeping our businesses at the top of our customers’ and prospects’ minds. Let’s keep our edge. Let’s keep marketing.
Have a position on an issue? Want to be a guest commentator? Let us know.
In part one of this series aimed at showing you how to avoid the most common mistakes in publicity campaigns, I explained the right way to invite reporters to a promotion, coordinate the presentation process and avoid superfluous press releases.
Today, I’ll tell you how to handle the two biggest perceived demons in promotional marketing – villainous self-ware demos and those reporters who are out to get you.
4. Assume a demo of your new product will work right out of the crate. It may have worked back in the lab, but like HAL in “2001: Space Odyssey” they are self-aware and programmed to destroy your press event. No matter, there are never enough electrical sockets to set it up anyway.
Your only hope is to plan for every contingency: pack two working demos, have technicians on hand to fix it, check on all your site requirements in advance, bring extension cords and, most important, arrive at least two days early (so you can overnight what you wouldn’t need from the office).
5. Be afraid of reporters. Many people watch “60 Minutes” way too much and have an irrational concept of what reporters are after. Reporters are working stiffs, just like you and me. They want to do their jobs well and be home in time to see their kids play soccer.
You should have two goals when meeting a reporter. First, help them do their jobs. Tell your story so it will be relevant and understandable to their audiences. You also must work in your message while not confusing press interviews with a sales calls.
Second, consider this an opportunity to take the first steps toward establishing a relationship. Strive to be an expert and a resource.
I talk about PR and marketing communications a lot, but other areas of marketing have their perils as well. What would be your top mistakes to avoid?
What other problems are you facing? Want to guest blog? Let us know.
Earlier this month I posted a three-part series demonstrating how to develop a plan that gets the PR electricity streaming through your press and customers. The more carefully you plan, the less likely a misstep or surprise that could damage or even destroy your efforts.
To help you spot Murphy when he steps through the door, here are the five most common mistakes I see.
1. Send your invitation to the press and assume they will attend. Once is never enough. Begin three weeks ahead with emails every 2-3 days. After the third email, begin calling recalcitrant invitees. Follow up with email reminders four days in advance. Two days before the event, call those who didn’t respond to the reminder. The night before, email everyone, the details and directions “so it’s handy.”
Or, be more creative to capture their attention. Send the initial invitation by U.S. mail (yep, where you use a stamp) printed on a sample of your new product or on some handy gadget for their desks. Imagine their surprise, when they get something from a mail carrier.
2. Entrust speakers with developing their own presentations. Most will come with 50 disjointed slides and promise that they’ll “go quick.” None will be past slide 5 when their time expires. It will go unnoticed, however, because the audience fell asleep on slide 2. Instigate a mandatory presentation review process going from outline through the final. Conduct a minimum of one live practice session. 3. Schedule weekly press releases; subject TBD. New hires and promotions are news, right? No, but that’s generally where these projects end up going for grist. While I see this resolve to “get our name out there” frequently, press releases are always a waste. Thousands of press releases are issued each day. Even industry publications only cover the top few. Be creative, there are better ways to get your company’s name in the spotlight.
Tomorrow, in part 2 I’ll tell you how to handle the two biggest perceived demons in promotional marketing – villainous self-ware demos and those reporters who are out to get you.
What other problems are you facing? Want to guest blog? Let us know.
Marketing your business is essential to attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. Not a marketer? You sell coffee, produce ballets or provide financial services? Time to run your business is also somewhat essential?
Agreed. So, I’ve boiled it down to five straightforward steps that will work for almost any business. I’ll cover the first three steps today and the final two – direct email and social media on Thursday. One caution, from hard learned experience, don’t try to do everything at once. Start with one step and build.
Understand your target market. If you can’t describe your ideal customer, you’ll inevitably waste time and money coaxing prospects of little or no value. Start by listing common characteristics of your existing best and worst customers. Subscribe to industry and marketing e-newsletters. Use a Really Simple Syndication or RSS reader to aggregate industry news and other information.
Know your competitors like James Bond knows Ernst Blofeld. For starts, who have you lost sales to or frequently bids against you? Ask your browser for the top 10 firms in your business. Peruse their websites and subscribe to their e-newsletters and blogs. Recruit your favorite search engine to alert when competitors appear in the news. Pricing can be particularly difficult to ferret out. Try networking, reading and talking to customers.
Handle your direct mail like your daughter’s wedding invitations.Personalize them. Highlight the date, location, where the couple’s registered. Emphasize the seafood buffet. Make clear the fresh fish precedes unwrapping gifts. Respond quickly to those who lost invitations. Track Uncle Harry’s behavior.
Individually personalize your direct mail piece. Highlight key info in bold headlines, graphics, colors that pop and subheads – MOST IMPORTANT emphasize benefits, not features. Don’t send the menu, just tell guests they’ll leave full. Make a clear compelling offer to encourage interest and immediately respond. Track everything to improve future campaigns.
As I said, competitive intelligence is critical, but difficult to accomplish. How do you keep tabs on your competitors? What couldn’t you figure out? Maybe some of you 007s can tell us how you’ve uncovered information on your Blofeld.
What other problems are you facing? Are you expert on a topic that will interest this community? Contact us. We’re always looking for what interests you and for expert guest bloggers.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of our series on PR planning to support your direct marketing and other promotional efforts, I discussed setting goals, analyzing your customers and competitors, and developing your killer Key Message. This final segment is where you take it all, and stir it up with whole bunch of imagination into PR activities that fix your messages in your stakeholders’ minds and have them nodding yes.
4. Create promotional activities that amplify your message. This is the fun part. Rules have no place. Be creative. Have fun. Go nuts.
When most people, even many public relations professionals, think of PR, press releases are the first thing that comes to mind. They still play a role. Briefing reporters face to face or over the phone also works. Social media has added a bunch of new ways to communicate.
However, 99 percent of the time, there are more effective – and more exciting – means to tell your story. My tip is to simply look around to see what you have to work with. You’ll be surprised. Ideas will jump out at you. This is also the best way to go if you don’t have “hard news,” the staple for press releases and briefings.
So, forget press releases. Better ideas are endless. Is there a customer who could tell your story? How about casting a talented engineer with a gift for theatrics (I call them “mad scientists”) to tell reporters his story? Is there a provocative angle to your story that you might exploit by conducting poll or study? (Reporters love them.)
Can you demonstrate your product in a real-life situation? How about inviting some industry experts to a freewheeling talk-show webinar with an exuberant employee filling in for Dave Letterman? Is there a side story you could stage humorously in a YouTube video?
The best way to come up with ideas is to hand pick a few individualistic colleagues for an hour of brainstorming. One idea will build on another. Hurdles will disappear as quickly as they appear. I guarantee that within 60 minutes you’ll have four or five amazing ideas.
And don’t let a tight budget get in your way, either. Brainstorm great ideas and then tailor them for the budget. It works.
5. Make a list of what works and what doesn’t. Finally, don’t forget how you constructed your PR blockbuster. Take time to write down what worked and what didn’t. Pull out the list when planning your next activity. While it might seem self-evident, put such lists where you can find them. I’m flabbergasted at how often they can’t be found when the next promotion rolls around.
I propose we have some fun and help a colleague at the same time by putting Step 4 to work. Would one of you want to rough out Steps 1-3 for a project you’re starting? Just provide enough background for this group to brainstorm some incredible PR activities for you. Any takers?
What other problems are you facing? Let us know. If it has broad interest, we’ll put the topic on our blog schedule. Are you expert on a topic that will interest this community? Contact us. We’re eager to share this space with guest bloggers.
In Part 1 of this series on PR planning I covered the first two steps in toward developing a successful plan — picturing success and conducting intelligence operations. Today, in step three of our five-step plan, I’ll show you how to create a “Key Message.”
Messaging is constantly discussed in direct marketing, but it’s seldom done effectively. That’s a major oversight because your Key Message is the most important element of your plan. The purpose for all of your PR and marketing activities is to instill that single message at the top of your customers’ and reporters’ minds and have them convinced that it’s true.
3. Develop a “key” message. A Key Message is the one thing (Yep, just one!) that customers, press and other stakeholders must remember about your product or service if they could remember nothing else. The purpose of a Key Message is to capture customers’ attention by portraying their world as it would look after your product or service has solved their single biggest problem.
By concentrating on the customers’ single, most longed-for desire, a Key Message is extraordinarily more powerful than the customary practice of flinging every benefit and company brag at customers and press the instant they step within range. That information isn’t forgotten, just subordinated until the targets catch their breath and are ready to hear more.
If it sounds tricky, it’s not. You just approach a Key Message as if you’re the customer. Describe the change in the customers’ world the product or service would make. To make cooking up a killer Key Message easy, I developed this recipe. Bon appétit!
Killer Message Extraordinaire
Ingredients (do not exceed 1 of each):
1 ea. Product or service name
1 ea. Most important desire in customers’ lives, described
1 ea. Difference in your offering from your competitors’
Blend ingredients in a single sentence until the essence of the message is persuasive and believable. Serve in a novel and memorable way that enhances the dish.
The balance of one of each ingredient is important. The objective is for everyone to have the same message top of mind. Too much of any ingredient, and reporters, for example, might write stories about the wrong message.
The Key Message’s presentation may differ depending on the audience, but it’s still the same message. For example, customers want to see how wonderful their world will be after your product has solved their problem. Reporters, on the other hand, are interested in “news.” For them, the message should be framed to emphasize what’s new.
Before concluding, let me tip you off to the two most common stumbling blocks in the Key Message process – democracy and sales leaders. Both tend to cause mass message proliferation.
In a democratic messaging environment, everyone gets to contribute messages, and you end up with a long string of messages packed onto a product brochure.
Sales heads have a solution to customers’ every “pain point,” and irrefutable responses to every objection. If they work on customers, they’re perfect as messages, right? Until you seize your audience with a compelling Key Message, you won’t be able to whet their appetites for this detail.
Here’s how usually work it out. Recruit a few colleagues with the right stuff for Key Message development. As Key Message creation begins, start educating those stakeholders on the pluses of the approach. The team creates the Key Message and shares the finished version with the now educated stakeholders.
What problems are you facing or subjects you’d like to know more about? Let us know. If it has broad interest, we’ll put the topic on our blog schedule. Also, contact us if you have expertise that you feel would interest this community. We’re eager to share this space with guest bloggers.
I talk to heads of many large and small business who for one reason or another don’t think PR activities are appropriate for them. We reach our entire market with direct mail. Word of mouth produces customers in this business. We know every customer personally.
In its basic form, PR (short for public relations or press relations) is the business of generating positive publicity about a company or its products – for free. Most consider it a discipline for large businesses. However, new tools and techniques, and particularly the Internet, have changed that.
Today, businesses of all sizes, even one-man shops, are turning to the myriad of different options PR offers to become more competitive. You can use PR to spread the word about your products into new channels, build a reputation for your company that commands premium prices or become a “luminary,” an expert in your field, who’s called upon by press, industry groups and prospects looking for the best person to help them.
The first thing you need is a plan. PR offers so many options that before you select specific PR activities, you need to do some detective work about your customers and competitors to craft the pitch your prospects will find most compelling. That information will guide you in custom tailoring imaginative PR activities that will capture reporters’ and customers’ attention and have them nodding yes.
In this three-part series, I share the five simple, easy steps that I use on every project. They form the basic plan that guides me in creating the most efficient, effective PR activities to achieve the results I’m after. Give them a try and I’ll bet you have the same success.
In this installment, I show how to set goals, and to learn what makes your customers and competitors tick.
On February 7, I’ll show you how to create killer messages – the most important aspect of any PR activity. On February 9, I’ll tell you the secrets to creating PR activities that consistently win over customers and press, and provide some tips on how to capitalize further on what you’ve learned.
Define what success looks like. This intelligence will guide your next steps. That’s your goal. What do you want to accomplish? Is it to make more people aware of your new product? Establish yourself in the community or industry as the expert in a specific area? Have the best-qualified candidates view your company as a great place to work? Gain a reputation for your legendary quality of service?
Know your customers and competitors. Combine the common characteristics of your hottest prospects into a “persona,” an imaginary ideal customer. Personas are gaining popularity because it’s easier to plan around “Joanna, vice president of procurement,” for example, than stacks of notes and data. To create personas, gather as much pertinent detail as you can. What are your customers’ two biggest problems? How much can they buy? Where do they get their information? Then incarnate that data into your ideal target customer.
Next, identify your major competitors. Snoop around their websites and use your browser to search for news and other information about them. Subscribe to their print communications, email newsletters and online magazines. Where do your products or services have an advantage? Where are theirs weak? What’s their biggest claim – lowest price, expert service, biggest selection?
This step is often overlooked because to many businesspeople “customers are customers” and “competitors do what we all do.” As Péllo is quick to point out, “You don’t sell to everyone. And your competitors are all different. That’s why customers pick one of you over the rest.” Do some browsing. I guarantee the new insight you gain will be astonishing.
What other problems are you facing? Let us know. If it has broad interest, we’ll put the topic on our blog schedule. Have a topic that will interest the community? Contact us. We’re eager to share this space with guest bloggers.
Targeting your direct marketing materials at non-English speaking prospects and customers in their native languages is an increasingly critical aspect of business success. As easy as it might seem, however, translating a product brochure into a foreign language can be tricky business.
Just ask Pepsi, which in the mid-Sixties launched an ad campaign in China using the slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation.” Unfortunately, in Chinese it reads, “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.” This example illustrates the risks in not properly acculturating your marketing collateral and in not doing language localization correctly.
General Motors famously bombed with its Chevy Nova in Mexico because “no va” means “it doesn’t go” in Spanish. And Nokia overlooked the minor fact that its Latin American smart phone, the “Lancia,” means “prostitute” in Spanish slang. Unfortunately, such mistakes are horrifyingly common.
Nonetheless, communicating in the language that your customers and prospects speak is good business. With 40 million Latinos in the US and 500 million in Latin America, savvy companies would be remiss not to focus on these huge nearby markets. For example, communicating in Spanish not only reaches those who do not speak English, but also ingratiates your company culturally.
After all, how would you feel if you received a mailed brochure that was badly translated and on a foreign paper size? Even if you liked the product in the promotion, you would immediately conclude that these people do not care enough to communicate with me correctly in my language or in my national business practices. And since they do not focus on details, they likely will not care about giving me good service either.
To stay clear of the linguistic offenses that landed Pepsi and others in the infamous Translation Hall of Blunders, avoid these temptingshortcuts and keys to failure:
1. Give your translation business to the guy in the next cube or the college kid advertising in the Local Shopper.
The first step in ensuring high-quality document translation services is giving the job to a well-established language localization agency that relies on professionally trained linguists with expertise in your subject. Yes, we all have colleagues who speak Spanish and we know students offering a translation service.
But few are certified, professional linguists who know the correct process — including use of a second translator for Quality Assurance review; final proofing for spelling, punctuation and grammar; and discounting for text repetitions. In addition to accuracy, with a professional translation, you will likely save money and sleep well, assured that your 50,000 newly translated and printed catalogs will be gaffe-free.
2. Invest in a software localization program or take advantage of a free online translation service.
Software solutions and free online translations are tempting. However, for your purposes, they are still way too rudimentary. Their grammatical deficiencies and mistakes in translating marketing and advertising terminology alone can doom your entire effort and make your company look foolish.
For example, a prestigious hotel “on Jones St. near the historic Flood Mansion” advertised itself using translation software as “we are located on Saint John near the historic great house against inundations.” Is no-cost software worth the risk of jeopardizing your image?
3. Print everything for your worldwide campaign on 8.5 x 11-inch stock. What are those foreigners thinking? That money grows on trees?
Normally, the last step in the process is to paste the translated text back into your English template. Unless your market is larger than the US. If you target foreign markets, you should remember the importance of other countries’ paper sizes. For example, 8.5 x 11 inches is the US standard. Size A4 (11.69 x 8.27 inches) is the common size in Europe, except Britain, where the Quarto (8 x 10 inches) is standard. Then, there’s A5 (8.3 x 5.8 inches) and . . .
So if your business extends overseas, your layout should correspond to what is familiar in each national market. Fortunately, in addition converting your copy into other languages, a good translation service can finish the job by preparing it in layouts for whatever paper sizes you need. And good printers can print your desired quantities on varying paper sizes for minimal extra cost.
Although these are the three offenses I see most often, preparing copy for translation does require attention to numerous other details. We have compiled a number of them in our own checklist for proper acculturation.
Avoid the shortcuts above if you want to maximize your return on investment. When doing the process correctly, each piece of collateral will come off the printing press reading and appearing as if it’s homegrown, exactly the way it should to impress non-English-speaking audiences that you communicate with through trade shows, direct mailings, in-country distribution, on the web or any other communications medium. Careful attention to professional translation, localized layout and target-country print sizes will help ensure your overseas ventures are successful . . . and that you avoid infamy in Translation Hall of Blunders.
