More bang for you marketing $$$:Be Direct! Target you communications with direct mail.

Direct mail –  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.

More bang for your marketing $$$: Lookin’ Good

You’ve heard of dressing for success. Well, looks count when it comes to communications materials as well. In fact, looks matter a lot.

Whether it's electronic or print, you can avoid looking bush league by watching these details:

1) TYPEFACE
There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of typefaces. Some are easier to read than others. Use a readable face to make sure your text is easy-to-follow. Keep the type large enough, too. (You may have to cut back on copy to fit your space.) Avoid using more than two or three different faces in any piece. Multiple typefaces can look cluttered.

2) LINE LENGTH
Ever wonder why newspapers and magazines format their articles in columns? It’s easier for human eyes to track shorter lines of text. Break up your copy into columns about 3” wide or less for a cleaner look and better readability.

3) COPY LENGTH
Most of your audience won’t have the time or inclination to plow through long text. Keep what you have to say brief. Use bullet points.  Or use photos and captions -- much more involving than straight text  If it’s a web site, you can offer more information through links. That leaves it up to the visitor to click or not. 

4) PHOTOS/VISUALS
You know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”? It’s true. So use visuals to emphasize your messages. But be picky. Poor quality photos speak volumes about your organization. And what they say isn’t good.

5) PRODUCTION QUALITY
Fuzz is okay on peaches but not on web sites, ads, brochures, newsletters or anything else with your name on it. That means no fuzzy logos, fuzzy type or fuzzy photos.

6) CONSISTENCY
Once you’ve worked out a look, standardize it. Set up rules for logo usage, colors, tag line, and layout, and follow them. Consistency helps build familiarity.

More bang for your marketing $$$: Who Knows You?

Ever heard the expression, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”? It’s the theme song of networking.

When it comes to successful business development though, this saying needs to be turned on its head!! “It’s not what you know OR who you know, but WHO KNOWS YOU.”

True Story: A company introduced a product but didn’t budget for promotion. A few months down the road the CEO frowned and asked, “Why isn’t the new widget selling?”After we started a program of publicity, advertising and trade show support, sales happened.

Moral: Selling starts with awareness.

Awareness is so basic many business people overlook it or minimize its importance. But lack of awareness will stymie business growth every time.

How do you create awareness? You need to be visible. Depending on your business and audience, the following tools can help you:

1) ADVERTISING: Can be an effective way to create awareness IF you have an audience that can be reached through publications, broadcast or other media avenues.   Because of the growth of electronic media alternatives, cable TV, satellite radio and so on, the market's gotten very crowded and advertising is tougher to make work.

2) PUBLIC RELATIONS: Product releases, features and case histories can get the word out about your product. This is often a SLOOOOOW way to build awareness, but the cost is less than advertising.

3) SOCIAL MEDIA: If you know your audience is online and you know where to find them AND you know what interests them, you can use social networks to create an online community.  This will take time and effort, but could pay off for you.

4) DIRECT MAIL: Works best with narrow, well-defined audiences. A good list is essential – whether you’re sending your message email or surface mail.

5) TRADE SHOWS and EVENTS: This is much like retail. Attendees come to learn about new products and “kick the tires.” They want to get up close and personal with products, and they may want to be entertained as well. So add some flash and sizzle to your presence. Make it fun, but make it meaningful, too.

A combination of these tools can be very effective. Just be sure to repeat, Repeat, REPEAT your message over time so it sinks in.

More bang for your marketing $$$: Making your direct mail work

Ever have a communications program fall on its face? You, your boss, and your colleagues were probably left frustrated and wondering, “What went wrong?” Like most marketing communications questions there are no simple answers. Just too many variables involved.

If it's direct mail results that are disappointing (surface mail or email), here are the key things to look at:

1) LIST 
Sending your message to the RIGHT people is critically important. It can help to pre-qualify a list by mailing to a small sample before sending out something to tens of thousands. If you’re purchasing a list, check on the list company’s sources and how often they update.  Publication subscriber lists may be better quality.


2) BREAK-THROUGH CREATIVE
Think of the clutter in your mailbox or in-box. A mail piece needs to break through that clutter. Grab attention. Beg to be opened and read.  Different creative approaches can be tested on segments of the list to find what works best.  (In email marketing the subject line is critical.)

3) OFFER/CALL TO ACTION 
Direct mail is all about response. So offer something attractive to spur it – a premium item, a rebate, a coupon.   An informational book or pamphlet. The offer is another variable that can be tested.


4) REPETITION
There are two cardinal rules of human communication: 1) People will notice your message only when they’re interested, and 2) People retain only about 10% of the messages they’re exposed to each day. So for a communication program to succeed, it must repeat, repeat, repeat. You can send a series of mailers or the same piece. Either way repeat the series in three to six months.

5) FOLLOW-UP
Phone calls to recipients after they’ve received a mailing can maximize results.  Schedule mailings in a way that allows for phone follow-up.

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What do you get for your marketing $$$: Measuring public relations results

Imagine you’re looking through publications or websites. In one place you see an ad for a product. In another you see a feature article reviewing that same product. Which is more believable to you? Chances are it’s the article. Behold the power of PR!

Have you added marketing public relations to your communications mix? It’s an economical way to get visibility, and it's great for building credibility and generating inquiries.  Notice that awareness building isn’t on the list. That’s because with PR you have less control over where or when your news is published.

With a consistent public relations program in place you can measure results by:

1) Tracking coverage. Review relevant publications for coverage and set up Goggle alerts so you catch online pick-up. Keep a spreadsheet record of what runs, where it runs, type of coverage and size, publication/website readership. This is a raw measure of your program’s impact.

2) Calculating the value of coverage. Use the cost of equivalent advertising space in the same publication to assess the dollar value of editorial coverage. Compare this equivalent value to the total cost of your PR program.Online pick-up is harder to value so you may need to look at relevance of the vehicle and size of the audience.

3) Calculating cost per inquiry. Keep track of how many inquiries your PR efforts generate. Divide the total by PR program costs to come up with the cost per inquiry.

Measuring Advertising Results

Start by understanding what advertising is really good at:

• Building awareness or recognition - Telling prospects about your company or brand.
• Enhancing perception and preference - Creating strong, positive impressions of a company or brand.
• Generating inquiries - Getting a response that can lead to a sale. 

And usually advertising reaches a broad audience.

The first two of the bulleted points are important, but don't count for much in today's bottom-line oriented business world.  Awareness, perception and preference can be measured, but right now it's inquiries your president and CFO care about.

Inquiry quantity is fairly easy to count.  Here are some techniques to think about:

1. Have your phone answers ask and keep track - Many inquiries come in by phone.  It's low tech but very effective to have those answering the phones simply ask how the caller heard about the company.  Tallies can be kept by a computer program or on paper.
2.  Set up a special phone number - Most phone systems will count the number of calls coming in to a given number.  If you use a special  phone number in your ad, you can get a raw count.
3. Set up a special landing page online - Since many people prefer to go online first, your ad can feature a special web address, and you'll get a count of online response.

Inquiry quality is the biggest issue, though.   Your company leadership will want to know "Did they buy?"  "How much did they buy?" and "What's the return on our investment in advertising?"  You may need to do some calculating to answer.  Here are ideas:

1. DIRECT MEASUREMENT:  Use an internal system that tracks inquiries and sales.  Because this method requires consistent compliance from the sales force, it works best in situations where the sales force is small.
2. INDIRECT MEASUREMENT:  Extrapolate value of inquiries.  First, qualify your inquiries.  Then multiply the number of qualified inquiries by the average value per sale.  In the B2B world a qualified inquiry is one that has specifying/buying authority and is going to buy in 6 months or less.  Make these part of your tracking system.

Does Your Marketing Communications Program Measure Up?

Let's face it. The economy is challenging. C-level execs are watching the bottom line like hawks. Marketing and communications budgets are under attack. Terms like "Accountability" and "Return on investment" are permanent fixtures in the new marketing vocabulary.

Scary times?  Maybe.  But certainly not unmanageable. If you've always preached that marketing is an investment not an expense, now's your chance to prove it.  Build measurement and reporting into your programs.  You can institute a process of continuous improvement at the same time.

It's really not hard, and the effort you put into measuring and reporting the results of your programs will win you and your department respect and credibility.  The next time you ask for a dollar you might get it.   Especially if you can show a strong ROI record.  You might even see the CFO smile!