What Billy Mays Can Teach You About Marketing |
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By Cynthia Fedor | June 29, 2009
After a crazy couple of weeks filled with sad news regarding the passing of notable public figures such as David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett as well as the legendary and infamous Michael Jackson, I was yet again surprised to hear of another, well this time, pseudo-celebrity death. Sunday morning I logged onto Twitter just in time to see a post from @YoungBillyMays announcing the passing of his father, Billy Mays, earlier that morning.
I know, he was an infomercial / commercial pitch man, maybe not what anyone would call a celebrity. However, his charisma, excitement and talent was embraced by many consumers… and got a lot of people to buy OxiClean! As he promoted dozens of products through TV infomercials, he developed his own personal brand that many people trusted… and some parodied.
So, what was it that made him and his infomercials so successful? Take a look at this past blog post, “Act Now! And Learn a Thing or Two from Infomercials,” for some highlights and takeaways.
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-29-2009 |
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By admin | June 29, 2009
How to Construct a Great B-to-B Email Newsletter
via infocenter.emailtransmit.com B-to-B newsletters should not use heavy, technical language. They should sound personable and genuine. Recipients should be enlightened, not surprised, by your content. Since many newsletters are constructed within a graphic template, it is important to be mindful of how your information is displayed. Best practices for newsletters include: * Subject lines should be short and describe the newsletter content accurately * Content categories should be listed clearly at the top of your message. For example, show the headlines in an “In This Issue” area that links to more information below
via stylecampaign.com my first - You’d think 360-degree animated Gifs would be common in email, but I received my first - out of 286 I’ve collected since 06 - last week from UK retailer Evans. Check it out here. Inspired, I headed to the studio to re-create the technique.
B2B Marketing Outlook Improves
via www.marketinginsightstoday.com Look for the biggest gains in B2B marketing to happen in the following three media forms: * Online * Direct mail * Events
How Nationwide more than doubled its sales with a new CRM strategy
via www.utalkmarketing.com By using Unica as part of its in-house CRM system, Nationwide has implemented one to one marketing to make tailored and personalised customer offers through direct mail, internet banking, and in-branch and call centre customer interactions.
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-26-2009 |
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By admin | June 26, 2009
Chuck Pruitt Is Mad! | The Agitator
via www.theagitator.net Chuck Pruitt of A.B Data thinks the dire predictions of the death of direct mail are groundless. … Chuck’s been around awhile, and his firm directed the Obama campaign’s direct mail fundraising efforts. Many of us probably have the impression, from the breathless reporting at the time, that all of Obama’s money was raised online … but A.B Data raised $108 million for Obama throught the mail. I don’t know about you, but that number makes me pay attention!
Consumed - Hyatt’s Random Acts of Generosity - NYTimes.com
via www.nytimes.com In the days ahead, managers and employees of the Hyatt hotel chain will be doing favors for some of their customers. Maybe they always did them, but these favors will be different: they will be what Hyatt Hotels’ C.E.O., Mark Hoplamazian, has called “random acts of generosity,” like unexpectedly picking up the tab for your hotel-bar drinks or hotel-spa massage.
4 missteps that can ruin your e-mail content :: BtoB Magazine
via www.btobonline.com Marketers are quickly learning—if they don’t already know—that the more targeted their e-mail content is, the higher the likelihood that their messages will be opened and read. Many looking to increase their e-mail relevance quotient may turn to dynamic content as a panacea. There are several stumbling blocks, however, that can trip up even the most seasoned e-mail veteran.
7 Killer Email Marketing Subject Line Tips
via www.seohosting.com In email marketing, the subject line is the most important part of your message. Without a killer subject line, your recipients will probably never even open your email. Worse yet, a really bad subject line could land you in the spam folder. So, knowing that the main the objective of your subject line is to get the reader to open the email, here are some tips to help you create click-worthy subjects. 1. Avoid spammy words… 2. Keep it short…
BtoB Lead Generation Tactics |
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By Jamie Klemcke | June 25, 2009
I stumbled across an interesting blog post today titled, “The Role of Online Marketing in BtoB Lead Generation.” Carla Joye, President of Strategic Intelligence Group answers difficult questions regarding best practice tactics for business to business lead generation. Here are a few examples:
Question: What do you think about the heightened interest in digital lead generation?
Answer: My experience has been that both agencies and clients see digital lead generation as a low to no cost medium for customer acquisition and therefore want to make it work. However, where they are short sighted is in making digital lead generation their only means of generating leads. Like any other successful lead generation efforts, digital marketing has a role to play but should be used in concert with other media such as direct mail, telemarketing, email, and so forth.
Marketers are always looking for the one magic bullet medium that will meet all their needs and are playing a fools game because that medium never will exist.
Question: How should businesses approach their lead generation efforts?
Answer: Ted, that’s the $64,000 question! Businesses should approach their lead generation efforts the old-fashion way. Start with a strategy and a list of who you want your customers to be in the next three to five years and then use every available means of communication to market to those chosen few until they appear on your customer list.What people need to remember is lead generation is the first step to gaining trust and building a relationship with a potential customer.
However, in today’s business world it’s all about the quick sale without regard to the lifetime value of that customer.
Speaking of customer lifetime value, that should be part of the strategy and target audience identification stage which comes first. The more lifetime value a customer has the more marketing $ should be spent on them. In business, the cliché that no two customers are created equal should be the mantra.
I couldn’t agree more! Check out the rest of the post here.
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-25-2009 |
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By admin | June 25, 2009
Real Estate Postcard Marketing Tip: Write Positively in Your Real Estate Direct Mail
via www.real-estate-news-articles.com Formulation. Sometimes, just a less bit of an alteration in the way you say your communication can create a big disagreement in how group respond to it. To pretending you what I convey, go position to the title of this article, “Mailing Your Succeeding Postcard.” Observe that I didn’t say “If you assemble a card.” I’m presuming that’s just what you’re leaving to do.
The Controversy over Personalized Ads
via www.emarketer.com Over one-half of adults in a 2008 TNS Global and TRUSTe poll were concerned about advertisers using their browsing history to serve relevant ads.
Coldwell Banker connects with YouTube crowd
via www.inman.com One month after launching a branded YouTube channel, Coldwell Banker Real Estate
Resurrect an old email marketing technology: the Animated GIF |
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By Luis Paez | June 24, 2009
A co-worker sent me a link about MarketingSherpa’s study that embedding videos in emails boosts engagement and open rates. While this may be true, there are a few problems with video in emails among them: email clients blocking movie files from being displayed, attachment file size limits (videos being fairly huge), and production difficulty (sometimes you must edit a file 10+ times before finding a balance between file size and quality). The thought came to me that the only reason marketers today want to embed videos is that they would be seen as pushing the envelope technologically. There is some value at being a little different, after all.
My question to all those who read this is: What ever happened to the animated GIF? It seems that the animated GIF is mostly relegated to a world of annoying avatars on forums, but it used to be used in a much more stylish way. I would challenge email marketers to take another look at this old technology if for no other reason that it is supported by default by all modern browsers and email clients (as long as the person enables images to be shown). In that sense, there’s no downside to what you’re already doing if you are using images in your emails. Before you go off the deep end, I’d caution you that there’s a stylish way to use animated GIF’s, and a way that is overly distracting.
First, check out a host of examples on Linda Bustos’ article on animated gifs. Pay particular attention to this one created by a retailer by the name of PiperLime:
Notice the extremely subtle use of animation, and it makes the idea of “free shipping” sparkle amidst a conservative design aesthetic. I think it’s quite a good example, and one that could easily be used in other ways in an email. Note that you’d probably only want one animated GIF in your email. Anything more than 1 would make the email busy and distracting.
What about a bad use? Take a look at #5 in Linda Bustos’ article, which shows 5 offers being rotated throughout 5 different squares on the grid all at once. This is an example of a designer or marketer taking a good idea and misusing it to the point where it is both distracting and a negative impression on the brand.
As anything in technology, these are just tools for making the right impression in the right way.
If you happen to be using QD’s emarketing system, I thought I’d share the little known fact - normally the image upload process prompts you to upload a JPG or JPEG image, but if you open windows explorer to wherever the .GIF file is, and rename the file (make sure the .gif is showing in the name, otherwise read this). When you rename the file, just change the file extension from .gif to .jpeg - you’ll get a warning box, but as long as you’ve made a copy of the file, all is good. Once the file has a .jpeg extension on it, upload it to your Image library in the emarketing system when you’re designing content. Presto! You have a animated GIF dressed up like a JPG, and one that works in an HTML email sent to clients like Outlook & Gmail. Be sure to test this against your email clients to ensure integrity.
In any event, if you find yourself talking about the latest email marketing fads with another marketer, remember to stick up for that oft-forgotten step-child: the animated GIF.
This was a test that an animated GIF could be shown correctly in Outlook. It worked quite beautifully both in Outlook and Gmail ! (this image is a screenshot not an animated gif itself)
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-24-2009 |
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By admin | June 24, 2009
Postal Service Must Enter 21st Century
via www.washingtonpost.com Europe’s increasingly privatized mail services offer exciting examples of postal possibilities in the 21st century. They are leaner and greener than the U.S. service because they work with, not against, the Internet. Switzerland’s Swiss Post, for example, employs green technology, providing customers with secure, address-linked online mailboxes where they can view scanned images of their mail and decide whether to virtually “open” it, discard it or have it physically mailed to them.
What is working in the mail stream
via directmag.com Major Surplus & Survival Promotes “Lots of ‘Free’ Offers!” Major Surplus & Survival recently mailed a slim-jim catalog offering a variety of premiums with the purchase of select merchandise. The company offers an extremely diverse selection of military, outdoors and survival gear.
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-23-2009 |
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By admin | June 23, 2009
via kaplancopy.com …not everyone is convinced; even in the online world. The proof? I got a mailing the other day offering me $50 worth of free AdWords (and waiving the $5 activation fee). Who sent it? My web host (Hostgator) and Google. Think about that. Two companies whose revenue is strictly online. They didn’t send an email, they didn’t “tweet”, they put a self-mailer piece of dead tree paper in the mail.
What is the most effective target marketing other than internet related options?
via grumpyoldtrucker.com Biz Advisor said: I’ll say a combination of things: personal selling, advertising (billboards, newspaper, trade magazines, radio, etc.), sales promotions (e.g. contests, trials, sample packs, coupons, etc.), direct mail - yes but more than direct mail, make it variable direct mail which is personalized one-to-one not only on the envelope and in the address but also in terms of the contents - targeted to you the buyer), and public relations.
What Forrester’s Email Marketing Forecast for 2009 - 2014 Doesn’t Tell You |
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By Cynthia Fedor | June 22, 2009
Forrester recently published a new forecast report, “US Email Marketing Forecast, 2009 To 2014,” which states that marketers are expected to spend $2 billion on email marketing by 2014, sending more than 9,000 emails annually by then. This statement brought a smile to many e-marketers’ faces and sent their fingers typing away on Twitter, chirping the praises of email marketing. And sure, email marketing is great for customer retention and for reaching one’s sphere of influence; but, it shouldn’t be the only medium used for any campaign.
When you’re first taught how to invest in stocks, your 401K, etc, you learn that diversification is the key to long-term success and building profit that can withstand the market’s ups and downs. Well, the same rings true for your marketing mix. Social media marketing, email marketing and SMS text marketing are all great new ways to quickly reach audiences; however, they alone shouldn’t dominate your marketing mix.
What happens when your audience starts to gloss over and ignore much of those 9,000 emails forecasted to be sent in 2014? How do you connect with members of your audience that aren’t online all of the time? What will you fall back on when search engine algorithms change or you face email deliverability issues?
Companion marketing - using a mix of traditional direct marketing and online - will always be the smart way to effectively reach target audiences, build brand awareness and capture market share, long term. Whatever medium you use – whether direct mail, email marketing, online marketing, etc. – just make sure your content is relevant and your approach is personalized and targeted. Simple, right?
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-22-2009 |
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By admin | June 22, 2009
Why E-Mail Subscribers Unsubscribe
via www.emarketer.com According to an Epsilon and ROI Research study, 55% of e-mail subscribers in the US and Canada unsubscribe from opt-in e-mails occasionally—and 14% do so frequently.
Frequency with Which Internet Users Worldwide Unsubscribe from Permission-Based E-Mails, by Region, April 2009 (% of respondents) Only 5% said they never unsubscribe.
Fishing is a growth industry [in part due to the Marketing]
via www.connpost.com RBFF’s State Direct Mail Marketing Program, a three-year initiative to recruit and retain lapsed anglers is seeing success. Thirty-two states currently participate in the State Direct Mail Marketing Program which has contributed more than $4 million in gross revenue to date for state fisheries management efforts through increased license and tackle sales.
via directmarketing07.blogspot.com At is most simple level you are sending out message with an invite for a prospect to get in touch with you. In addition, you should show your prospects to the message enough times to make them consider taking action. With this kind of highly specific demographic info you can customise your message to invoke them to call you. Remember a direct mail piece with over a 1% reply rate is considered phenomenal, and that statistically, post cards get more attention than envelopes in races mail boxes.
Whose Word-of-Mouth Matters? - eMarketer
via www.emarketer.com Word-of-mouth recommendations can move consumers to make a purchase.
Word-of-blog, on the other hand, is far less persuasive.
Marry Direct Mail and Online with “Pre-Conversions” |
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By Robert "Dude" Spellings, Jr. | June 19, 2009
There has been alot of talk about combining online marketing and direct mail, but execution has been more difficult than expected. Combining the two marketing channels has been difficult because of the inherent technology differences in traditional direct mail versus newer and more technological online solutions.
Online marketing is very attractive because it is usually accompanied by really effective measurement tools that can tell you whether or not your campaign is actually working (ie: are people really opening my emails and clicking on the links?). The unrealized desire among marketers has been to figure out a way to capture the same kinds of metrics for direct mail as are available for email and online channels.
This is where the idea of “pre-conversions” comes in. What is a “pre-conversion”? Its just a term that I am using to convey the idea that some recipients of marketing messages might interested in your message but may not actually convert. Traditionally, this interest never has been captured and the potential sales are lost.
Let me explain by example. Lets say you receive a direct mail piece and it happens to be for something that you are very interested in. So you set the direct mail piece aside (because, like everyone, you are busy) and intend to get to it whenever you have time. The next time that you go through the stack on your desk, you see the direct mail piece and decide to call or whatever, but to your disappointment, you see that the offer has already expired, so instead of calling, you toss the postcard in the round file.
In the above example, you clearly had interest, but you didn’t convert. The concept of a “pre-convert” is that you want to capture the interest that recipients have and measure it, even if they don’t convert. To capture this interest, I suggest imposing an intervening step prior to conversion that does capture the recipient’s interest without making the user feel like they are committing to anything. For example, on your direct mail piece, require that the user “activate” the offer by simply going to a PURL. Users are more likely to do something simple like going to a webpage, than they are actually going through an entire purchase/conversion process. Once they “pre-convert” like this, you now know that they are interested and you can be sure to keep them on your radar. Without the pre-conversion step, you have no way of tracking this kind of interest.
This kind of engagement also helps make your direct mail effort better by eliminating some of the main pitfalls people run into with direct mail:
- Having an attractive offer - Believe it or not, many people send out direct mail without an attractive offer. Having a pre-conversion step built in to your direct mail piece will help reinforce why you are sending the direct mail campaign in the first place. Why would anyone convert if the offer isn’t very good? Forcing yourself to think about enticing the user to “pre-convert” will help eliminate this pitfall.
- Effective Tracking - its very difficult to effectively track direct mail, but using online tools to “pre-convert” customers helps solve this problem and can tell you all kinds of things about your direct mail efforts. You can even combine a/b split testing to refine your artwork, your offer, etc. The pre-conversion will help you create a better campaign.
There are many ways to combine online and traditional direct marketing. This is just one idea. As online marketing matures, there will be more ideas out there. If you have an idea that is working in your industry, please let everyone know by posting a comment or dropping us an email.
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-19-2009 |
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By admin | June 19, 2009
Recession Fuels Auto Insurance Direct Marketing
via www.businesswire.com Mintel Comperemedia, a service that provides direct marketing competitive intelligence, says nearly 3 billion auto insurance direct mail offers were delivered to American mailboxes from Q2 2008 to Q1 2009. This is nearly the same number sent one year prior, despite drastic changes in the economy. To top it off, the past two years’ mail volume represents a high for the industry: five years ago, auto insurers sent less than half as many offers.
Direct Marketing News, Views and Opinions: 10 tips for great copywriting
via paulandpartners.blogspot.com What can you do to make your copy more compelling? Here are a few time-tested ideas to help you improve your direct marketing presentation. 1- Throw out the longwinded intro. Nobody cares about your corporate history or how happy you are to write to them. It’s a brutal reality. File 13 it.
Big Props to Personalized Direct Marketing |
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By Jamie Klemcke | June 19, 2009
So I guess when you’re featured in a “brag room” it’s considered OK to brag right? Leave it to the Marketing Director to brag about her team being featured for creating a best-in-class multi-touch, personalized direct mail campaign. The team may shake their heads at me, but I just can’t help myself.
There is quite a bit of chatter in the marketing space regarding the value prop or lack thereof, when it comes to direct mail. In my last blog I mentioned that direct mail has definetely changed. Technology has allowed us to create personalized, targeted mail pieces that speak directly to the prospects we are targeting. This has proven to increase response and ROI. One example is a recent campaign we conducted to target top real estate prospects.
Deliver Magazine featured the QuantumDigital Real Estate Love Campaign this week in their brag room. The campaign was implemented this year and has proven to be a great success for the Vice President of Real Estate Sales, Debbie Gurley.
The challenge was to compel high-level decision makers in the real estate industry to contact QuantumDigital and learn more about the innovative products and services available to them. The objective was to reintroduce QuantumDigital as a unique service provider, describe the 22-year history and commitment QuantumDigital has to the real estate industry, and to secure a call, discovery session or on-site visit.
The campaign comprised several elements including direct mail, triggered emails and personalized landing pages. “The campaign easily opened up doors in the sales process. The contacts I have spoken with found the campaign fun and compelling, even giving them ideas on how to better position their own companies,” said Gurley.
This is what it is all about. When you can spend the time creating personalized pieces, the message resonates with the recipient and ultimately opens up the conversation to begin relationship building.
Let me know if we can help you develop your own multi-touch campaign.
Jamie
Multi-Touch Direct Marketing Campaign
The Direct Marketing Voice Links 6-18-2009 |
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By admin | June 18, 2009
Retro or Smart Marketing: Selling Biz Books via Direct Mail
I hadn’t realized how much I missed direct mail until this promotion arrived. This isn’t a fancy piece, just a great example of workhorse direct mail that used to be the lifeblood of traditional business publishing — and the mainstay of my business not so many years ago.
Direct marketing extra credit reading list
First, Melissa Data recently published The Ultimate Marketing Survival Guide for 2009. I wrote the lead article, “Direct mail remains the king of direct marketing.” Just in case you thought direct mail was dead or that tweeting is better than mailing, this article will disabuse you of that faulty assumption.
Catering to your Tribe’s Needs (a.k.a. Customer Needs) |
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By Luis Paez | June 17, 2009
You may have heard of Seth Godin’s 1998 book called Tribes: We need you to lead us, as it’s slightly popular being the #1 bestselling book in Amazon’s Psychology > Leadership category, and #7 in the Business > Leadership category. It seeks to describe the changing nature of our social relationships in business and marketing. In a sense you can consider the increasing “niche” groups these “tribes”. The ease with which information is shared means you can create a tribe of cell-phone enthusiasts - or more appropriately - a new product/service.
An interesting thought that is an offshoot of this theme is that our job as marketing professionals and brands, is not necessarily to give people a product, but it’s to facilitate connections and communication between them. For a synopsis of this idea, view this video, published by a Norwegian marketing agency.
At QuantumDigital, we’ve been enabling our clients to support the links between their customers for years. For example, a real estate Just Listed card does just exactly that - it enables a real estate agent to send a notice to their contacts about a recent listing from one particular client. Contacts get updated about their favorite agent and have an opportunity to pass around the card to their friends. It’s about connecting your network to one another. The more an agent helps connect people, the more recognition and word of mouth referrals come their way.
On a different level, however, this “Tribes” concept challenges us to think differently about our brands, too. Is it postulating that the strongest brands in the future will create a distinct identity for their “tribes”? If so, then will real estate companies that characterize themselves as “eco-friendly” corner the market on people who identify themselves as environmentalists? In retail, will companies like Wild Oats / Henry’s Markets corner the market on those who are both health-focused & socially-conscious? That’s the suggestion being made, as the more competing brands enter an industry.
If you’ve got an unclear identity - or rather, if your customers don’t share an obvious clear, unique identity - then more work is required to use Pareto’s principle to identify the few that produce 80% of your revenues. Ask them who they think you are, and perhaps you can pare down the image to a pair of keywords. The more questioning, the better because as a leader, your tribe needs you.