Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Be Direct! Target your marketing communications with direct mail.

Direct mail – whether surface mail or e-mail – is a great way to get response from a clearly defined audience.  But doing direct mail successfully means watching three things:

1.    LIST
Make sure your message goes to the RIGHT people. If you’re purchasing a list, ask to test a small number of names before investing in the full list.
When you send out a mailing, you can expect 1-3% wrong addresses.  These will come as returned mail or maybe phone calls.  It’s a good idea to keep track of the number of bad addresses.  If you get more than 3%, you may be able to get money back from your list provider.

2.    BREAK-THROUGH CREATIVE
Think of all the stuff in your in-box.  A mailer needs to break through that clutter.  Grab attention.  Beg to be opened and read.  So have some fun. Maybe take a risk.  Different creative approaches can be tested to find what works best.

3.    OFFER/CALL TO ACTION
Direct mail is all about response.  So offer something attractive to spur it – a trinket, rebate, coupon, or informational pamphlet.  Be creative here, too.  This is another variable that can be tested.

Other factors to think about are:
  • REPETITION
For any communication program to succeed, you have to repeat, repeat, repeat. With direct mail you can send a series of mailers or send the same piece. Send pieces two or three weeks apart…and repeat the series in three to six months.
  • FOLLOW-UP
Phone calls to recipients after they’ve received a mailing can help get maximum results.
  • MEASUREMENT
Look at inquiry quantity and quality from your program.  Use the information to make your program better.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Fatal marketing communications detours on the road to visibility

Visibility.  Awareness.  Being known.  That’s where selling starts.  Most business people know this at least intuitively.  But they may stumble, fumble and not make headway due to these five common marketing communications mistakes.


1.        KEEPING IT A SECRET
This seems basic, but many business people either forget the need to get out the word or purposely avoid this step because they’re worried about the competition.  The usual outcome of not telling the world about your product, service or company is disappointing sales.  Your prospective buyers need to know about you and your offering before they’ll buy.  It’s up to you to tell them.

2.        GIVING UP TOO SOON
It can take nine or more (!) repetitions of a message before it sticks in a prospect’s brain.  Don’t be alarmed if a single ad, mailer or whatever doesn’t yield a phenomenal response.  Keep at it with consistency, and you’ll see results.

3.        NOT USING THE POWER OF THE MIX
Repetition is good.  But it can be expensive and hard to achieve if you rely on just one communications type.  A mix of tactics carrying the same message to the same audience is more effective and affordable.

4.        NOT BEING BUYER-ORIENTED
You know what YOU want to say.  But do you know what your prospects want to hear?  If you don’t, ask them! Prospective buyers will pay more attention to messages that speak to THEIR needs.

5.        BEING BORING
Truth is, an uninspiring presentation will get through if it’s repeated enough times.  A fun, intriguing, interesting presentation of the same message will cut through the clutter faster.  Why settle for boring?

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

How much marketing communication is enough?

We all agree that marketing communication is a good thing if you want to sell something. Right?

Once that’s agreed, one of the next decisions marketers face is: how often do I need to communicate?
There’s no pat answer, but a lesson in human learning might help.

Did you know we (people, that is) forget about 90% of the information we’re exposed to? Repetition is critical because the more times a prospect is exposed to a message, the more likely he or she is to remember it.

In the communications business this repetition is known as frequency. The rule of thumb is that an individual needs to see to a message a minimum of three times for it to sink in.  And remember, that’s the MINIMUM.
More is better.
 
It’s important to note that the three times rule refers to a messages actually being noticed.  In the cluttered media environment of today, that can mean frequencies of nine or more times.

To put it plainly, don’t run one ad or send a single mailer and then curse your lack of results. Even if the message and audience are right, you probably need to repeat yourself a few times for best results.

Using a variety of communications methods in combination can make increased repetition more affordable.  So mix it up by putting together public relations, direct marketing, web strategies, advertising and events.  These can all work together to good effect.