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!

Free Lunch, Anyone?

Seems like everyone is looking for the proverbial free lunch these days, particularly when it comes to marketing communications. Well, I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but there's no such thing. However, there are ways to stretch your budget and marketing public relations (PR) is one of them.


MARKETING PR – that’s publicity directed towards your marketing target audience carrying marketing messages. (It's a different animal than investor, community, or employee relations.) Marketing PR can generate inquiries, economically extend the reach of your advertising and direct mail programs, boost your company's credibility and enhance its standing as an expert.


Here are three basic marketing PR tactics for you to consider:


NEWS RELEASES
Does your company bring new products or services to market? Improve existing products or services? Publish literature? These are all great subjects for news releases. Send releases to editors at relevant websites and publications. One release a month is a good goal.


CASE HISTORIES
These can highlight your company's problem solving abilities. And well-written case histories are in demand -- by readers and editors alike. You can work with a single publication to place a case history or broadcast it to many.


FEATURE ARTICLES
Getting an article placed on the right site or in the right publication can be very rewarding in terms of enhanced credibility. To be successful this tactic must be backed with careful research and planning to ensure the topic is of interest and timely.

Is there a blog or newsletter in your future?

If you’re thinking of launching a blog or newsletter, take time to plan carefully.  Your efforts will yield greater success.

TRUE STORY:  There was a company that sold exclusively through distribution.  Sales and marketing were frustrated, though, because distributors weren’t emphasizing the right products.

The solution, based on talking to top distributors, was a distributor blog on key products.  Not only did distributors like it, sales and marketing staff were happy to see sales of these products improve.

Wondering if a newsletter or blog is right for you? Ask yourself these questions.

1) Who do I want to talk to?

Start with a well-defined audience. Different groups have different information needs. If you have diverse audiences (like employees and customers), you may need separate vehicles.

2) What do they want to know?   What do I want to tell them?

People pay attention to what’s important to them. Find out what that is by ASKING your audience. Then try to fit what you want to tell them into what they want to know.

The best-read blogs offer useful information. Can you provide that consistently?

3) Do I have enough to say to keep it going?

The world is full of newsletters that never made it past Issue #1 and blogs that end after a few posts. Avoid this by planning content for the year. (I recommend brief posts sent often.) If you don’t have enough content for a year, maybe you need to send an email or a series of info sheets instead.

Being visible on a budget

Once upon a time a company introduced a new product. They didn’t want their competition to know, so they didn’t advertise or even send out a news release. Sales of the new product were disappointing. The manufacturer was unhappy. What went wrong? Any thoughts?

I don't believe “stealth marketing” ever works. You need to be visible to sell something. When this companyr started promoting their new product, sales picked up.

Visibility is good for business. But how do you get visible with limited resources? Here are some ideas.

1) Postcard marketing - Use postcards to ask for referrals, announce events, build website traffic, say thanks, and more. Of course, for best results you need a good list.  Surface mail of any kind tends to get noticed since it's leas common than email.

2) News release program - Does your company bring new products or services to market? Publish literature? These are great subjects for news releases. Send releases to editors at relevant publications regularly to get more than your fair share of coverage. Public relations activities like this are time-intensive, but cost much less than advertising.

3) Feature coverage - Getting major coverage in the right media outlet can enhance visibility and credibility quickly. Use research and planning to ensure your topic is timely. Then target specific editors.

4) Case history articles - Highlight your company's capabilities with problem/solution articles. Well-written case histories are in demand -- by readers and editors alike. These stories make great website content, too.

5) Use the power of the Internet - A website is essential.  Be sure to provide content your target audience wants and update it often.  Social networks may be a good place to promote your content if your audience uses them.  Use social networks for brand building, too.  E-mail marketing can be a good tool, if you have the recipient's permission.

6) Newsletter or blog - Developing a good newsletter or popular blog takes market intelligence and careful planning. Then you need discipline and skill to crank out something worthwhile on a schedule. But it’s worth it! A good blog or newsletter can gain you loyalty, credibility, and visibility.

7) Identity - Maintaining a consistent identity is a low-cost way to maximize impact. Consistency and professionalism help any business over time. Consistency means repetition. That's what solidifies ideas in our brains. Professionalism is about looking good. If you want to be taken seriously, present a professional image.

Whatever you do, repeat, repeat, repeat! A single mailing (for example) may get disappointing results. Don’t be surprised or discouraged. Keep at it with a consistent look, message and audience, and over time your message will sink in.