Why is Direct Marketing spending increasing? |
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By Luis Paez | February 3, 2010
To all the social media consultants out there who downplay the role of direct mail and direct marketing, there are two standout points that they should be considering very closely from the DMA’s latest economic impact study:
- As an industry, the amount spent on direct mail will rise by $1.1 billion this coming year (to $45.5 billion)
- 2009 will mark the fifth year in which direct marketing has captured more than half of all advertising spend nationwide
To be clear, I’m not arguing that there are not rates of increased use of the newer marketing vehicles (commercial email, online advertising and social media) – certainly marketers everywhere are finding the best ways to use these mediums. What is happening is that firms, small and large, are realizing the effectiveness and special role direct marketing has in a firm’s overall marketing efforts. When asking ourselves the question “Why is direct marketing spending increasing?” there are a couple of main drivers that come into play (and because of time constraints, I’m going to quote the latest Wall Street Journal article about direct mail mostly for anecdotal evidence):
Emotional Appeal
This is probably the most important aspect, and it’s hard to quantify the impact of emotion. In the book, “How We Decide”, Jonah Lehner outlines the massive importance of emotions in any decision making process (and for us that means the buying process), and direct marketing often uses emotion as a way to build trust and a relationship with clients. A fun example from the WSJ:
To save money, Peter Taffae, founder of ExecutivePerils, a Los Angeles wholesale insurance broker, stopped his small firm’s humorous [movie themed] postcard mailings last year. …
“We would visit some clients and notice they were hanging the postcards on the wall, collecting them,” says Mr. Taffae, who says he secured $270,000 from a new client who chose to do business with the firm in late 2008 after receiving the postcards. “After two or three months [of no postcards], we got a lot of emails and phone calls asking us, ‘Did you take me off your list?’” says Mr. Taffae, who restarted the postcard mailings in November.
ExecutivePerils is a stand-out company in that they use the medium effectively to entertain their clients, and by doing so increases clients’ emotional attachment to the company. Successful direct marketing often uses this as a call out – and when it comes across in a physical medium that people can hold in their hands , it ends up being a higher value piece, so much so that people may start collecting them and sharing them with friends. It’s true that emails have the “forward to a friend” feature designed into them, however with direct mail that friend will not get a barrage of emails thereafter. So in that sense it creates a sense of ultra-private information sharing.
The Exclusivity of Postal Mail
A few years ago it was easy to make the case that a business should start emailing their customers because of the low cost of email – and the fact that not many businesses were taking advantage of commerical email. Now, as every business uses email in some form or another, the volume of email that people receive has diminished the effectiveness of one particular email from one particular company. Here’s a relevant anecdote:
William Kapas, president of J.C. Kapas Real Estate Co. in Rochelle Park, N.J., says he has secured clients as a result of his high-gloss, four-color monthly mailings that list who has bought or sold restaurant properties though the firm.
“Our clients look forward to knowing, and it’s a little bit of gossip, too,” says Mr. Kapas, who exclusively uses traditional mail to reach clients. “I think it’s easier to delete the electronic junk mail without taking a second look.”
Mr. Kapas spends about $1 a piece for the monthly mailings, sent to about 2,200 current and prospective customers.
Email will always be a component of how you communicate to customers. However, brands have to consider *when* to send an email. For certain communication, especially loyalty, relationship & acquisition customer campaigns, email isn’t necessarily the best option.
Targeting a Message for Relevance
Personalization (including a recipient’s name or identity somehow) on a message is just one way of creating relevance. Equally important aspects are creating the marketing list in the first place. Demographics, customer profiles, customer segments will always apply differently to different companies. It was refreshing to hear this reiterated by Kellogg’s professor of marketing – again from the WSJ:
Many entrepreneurs find that the boiler-plate methods of the past—such as purchasing mailing lists and sending fliers or coupons to a mass audience—often aren’t cost-effective. Instead, business owners are creating personalized mailings, which may include special offers or other valuable information, and sending them to a hand-picked list of current and prospective customers. The idea is to send something that’s more appealing than “junk” mail and potentially more noticeable than an email message, says Eric Anderson, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
MBA’s should take note that the new tools of relevancy are now getting to be more mainstream. These tools will only get better with time, and it increases the value of a direct marketing message & campaign. In general, 2010 will bear out whether these trends will stick, improve or change – but one thing is certain – if the recession has forced us to go “back to basics” , direct marketing is certainly one of these.
Forrester Releases 2010 Mobile Trends Report |
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By Jamie Klemcke | January 18, 2010
As 2010 kicks off, we’re all thinking of new and innovative ideas for growing business. For me, I’m interested in implementing a mobile campaign to test direct mail response. Testing a coupon offer would be an interesting project. You may be wondering how to squeeze mobile into the marketing mix. I came across Thomas Husson’s blog post today that highlights his views on the 2010 Mobile Trends.
I’m not going to say that 2010 will be “the year of mobile” or “the year of mobile marketing.” I think 2010 is more likely to be the “year that every firm needs a mobile strategy.” Thomas Husson, Senior Analyst, Forrester
For more information, check out the 2010 Mobile Trends executive summary.
Is Email Marketing The ROI King? |
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By Robert "Dude" Spellings, Jr. | January 15, 2010
Ran across an interesting article in which a VP at Exact Target says that email marketing has the best ROI of any direct marketing method.
The article does make the point, rather subtly, that email has the best ROI when it’s done right. I would have made that more clear. Blasting out email for any address you can get your hands on won’t have a decent ROI, but sending relevant emails to people who want to hear what you have to say is very effective. That’s the key: be relevant and send to people who want to hear from you.
Is there Interactive Marketing Burnout? |
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By Luis Paez | December 30, 2009
It’s true that direct mail sometimes has a tougher challenge of trackability when compared to the email realm. This is the way it should be – no one should be in my home looking over my shoulder as I open my mail. It’s a question of place, and privacy. Direct mail gives us the time to consider a message before acting upon it or recycling it.
There was a comment on a blog about the trackability challenge of direct mail vs. email – that was not on topic. It didn’t talk about effectiveness metrics, but instead cried out at the emotional appeal of a message sent through the physical mail. Here is an excerpt:
I don’t know about anyone else – but I LIVE on my computer 8-10 hours/day – nearly all of it either in research or in email correspondence. Although only one lady’s experience and therefore hardly a trend…I must say I now look forward to mail delivery (again) and opening traditional envelopes and reading traditional postcards. Beyond the visual impact – it’s tactile and it’s (now) DIFFERENT! I own a business that needs to make decisions on which medium to use, and based on this personal experience, I continue to use at least color postcard mailings in my mix. This is backed up by a duplicate digital mailing to both the same as well as wider audience. – Jane
Are we headed this way as a society? Are we on the cusp of societal online burnout? Having been at technology companies for the last 10 years as a “knowledge worker” in sales, marketing and tech roles, I can say that personally, I love to unplug when I get home. Frequently, I’ll go a few days time without dilligently going through all my email messages – only will scan any emails from friends/family. It’s all about catching up at the dinner table, seeing the family, and talking about the physical real world things that we are going to do that week. It’s at those moments when we talk about any flyers or mail correspondence we got in that day… and that is the moment that marketing departments who focus on exclusively “interactive marketing” are missing out on. They’ll just have to wait another few days until I sit down for an hour and sort through my personal email.
I love digital. I love online. But there’s no replacement for the physical.
QuantumDigital Helps Santa Deliver Christmas Wishes to Children in Need |
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By Cynthia Fedor | December 9, 2009
It feels so good to help those in need all year round, and we do so by participating with Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Angel Tree Prison Fellowship among others. But I’ll admit it feels exceptionally good to bring a smile to a child’s face during the holiday season. I can just imagine the look of utter joy and amazement on an adorable kiddo’s face when he or she discovers that a special present has been waiting just for them.
This year, QuantumDigital–an online service provider for targeted direct mail, on-demand printing and eMarketing–contributed to Salvation Army’s Angel Giving Tree by sponsoring the holiday wishes of 30 children. Requests from children were divided up amongst many of our QuantumDigital team members who purchased items such as clothing, soccer balls, riding toys and dolls.
Thousands of little angels could still use your support and care. It’s not too late to help. Go to http://angel.jcpenney.com/ and purchase a gift for an angel by December 9 or a JC Penny gift card by December 14, 2009.
Thank you to all the QuantumDigital team associates that donated time and resources in order to put a smile on a child’s face this year. Here’s what a couple of our participants had to say about this great program:
Why did you decide to participate in the Angel Giving Tree program?
I feel so very blessed to have all the things I have that I just wanted to give to someone who might not otherwise have anything to open for Christmas. I can’t bear the thought of a little one not having warm clothes to wear or toys to play with. I also like to set the example for my own daughter, so that she understands the meaning of giving. – Deborah L.
Because I feel really fortunate to have a decent job during these hard times and I wanted to try and make a difference for a few children whose parents may not be as fortunate. – Robert “Dude” S.
How does it make you feel?
It makes me happy to know that now three children will have new clothes to wear and learning toys to help them develop. I also feel good about being able to help another parent. – Deborah L.
If makes me feel good to know that a few children will have a little Merrier Christmas this year thanks to the generocity of our department. – Robert “Dude” S.
What do you hope for the recipients of your donation?
I hope they have a wonderful Christmas and that they can just enjoy being kids. I also hope this gives a sense of relieve and excitement to the parents who won’t have to worry about how they are going to provide for their children. – Deborah L.
I hope that the recipients of our donation will like the gifts, but I also hope that its helps boost their spirits to know that they live in a community where people care about each other. – Robert “Dude” S.
Thanks again. Happy holidays!
Top Direct Marketing Insights from the QuantumDigital booth, NAR 2009 |
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By Jamie Klemcke | December 7, 2009
For all real estate professionals, here is a final review of the key direct marketing highlights from the QuantumDigital booth at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo.
Key topics at the booth included:
- How to use social media with direct mail.
- New social media postcards and personalized postcards to increase ROI
- How to automate farming and buyer follow-up campaigns
MLS integration was of high interest to corporate level decision makers in the industry. This integration allows easy ordering and immediate display of information on postcards, flyers and other key media types from listing data.
Several real estate professionals also stopped in to share what is on their minds moving into 2010. Watch videos from the conference on the QuantumDigital YouTube Channel.
Read more about the highlights, speakers, tools and new technology on our press release and download helpful whitepapers.
Enjoy your Friday,
Jamie
The Worst Direct Mail Postcard? |
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By Luis Paez | December 3, 2009
I am going to use a postcard that my wife received in the mail as an example that might be good to share with a wider audience. I typically want to support small hispanic-owned businesses, so in this case I’m going to hide easily identifyable information to protect their identity. There are two main reasons to use them as an example of “what not to do”: First, they make many of the common mistakes that small business marketers make when embarking on a direct mail campaign. Second, this postcard is in spanish – enabling most of you who don’t speak spanish to focus on the postcard design elements, indicia, & miscellaneous mistakes that can be made.
With that as a caveat, take a look at these images. I am showing the image side (non-address) first, because that’s the first image that I saw when I picked up the piece.
image-side
Image Quality – This image in the center of the screen is extremely confusing. The main image of a promotion postcard should get across very quickly what the problem/proposition/offer is, however this image suffers because of the low quality creation. The washed out image is so poor that I don’t think any modern printer could have possibly done this. My guess is that this piece was done in a local copy-mat using a run-of-the-mill black and white copier and colored copier paper. When and if this business ever prints their postcards in a professional facility, we may see the image be relevant to the overall message, but right now it just confuses a recipient and really hurts the eyes.
Call to Action Size & Position- The words that are underlined is the “call to action” (trust me). It offers a discount if one brings in the postcard on their next visit before the expiration date listed. A possible improvement is to highlight this call to action in a more dramatic way by enlarging the font and overlaying it on the image. Simple and low-cost tools like Microsoft Publisher allow anyone regardless of budget to do this.
Missing handwritten information – Many people like to bulk print a postcard – meaning print 2,000 postcards at once to save on printing costs, and then send out batches every few weeks by hand. This strategy is fine, but if you do this, remember to fill in the blanks. On this card, in the lower right hand corner, the expiration date is missing. Once again, a common mistake. To eliminate it, create a process checklist, or simply hard-code an expiration date and do smaller batches of postcard printing.
Paper type – Usually this isn’t a big deal with most professional printers out there. It’s really only the local copy shops that still enable businesses to make this mistake. I don’t know if you can tell by the photo, but the quality and color of this paper is similar to the type used by 2nd graders, and is extremely low quality. It’s an obvious attempt at color on a shoestring and in my opinion subtracts from the professionalism of this company’s brand. If you’re on a budget consider just going with plain white paper – there are heavier card stocks available that have a gloss to them. A creative graphic designer can come up with designs that would be effective even on pieces that are strictly black and white.
Color - Having said that it is possible to create a compelling piece in black and white, let me also emphasize that it’s much easier to use existing photos & images if you print the postcard in full color. Less need for amazing bursts of creativity 
address-side
Return address placement - the USPS location stamp overlaps the return address. This could be easily fixed on future postcards. This is a good reason to send yourself a postcard or “seed yourself” so you can see what your recipients see, tweak your design, and improve your piece.
Addressing with printed labels - This postcard exemplifies why this might not be the best idea. When using a varied color paperstock, your white printer labels throw the design of the piece off a bit. It’s distracting from the message of the card. A better alternative is just to have the addresses printed on a piece at print time, so there’s no difference in the color/fonts/sizing of the address compared to the rest of the text on the card.
Mail sorting barcode sticker – The USPS loves to make it’s job easier with these barcode stickers but they make our marketing pieces suffer a bit also. The sticker covers the tagline in the lower left corner, so again, this would be a good opportunity to learn from a piece sent to yourself in the mail and redesign the card so that there are no text elements in that portion of the card.
Having outlined these various “problems” with the postcard, I fully acknowledge that direct mail veterans have received very good response rates for 1-color and oddly colored paper types, although I’ve only seen this succeed with letter+envelope campaigns. The only way to learn if it’s worth going down this path is to monitor the response you get from a full color, oversized postcard and compare it to a small 1 color postcard like the one above. Hopefully you can do this with similar recipients at a similar time of year and with different calls to action (phone/email/landing page) , so you can most accurately decide if that approach works for you. At the end of the day, you also have to appraise this measurement against how you are branding yourself against your competitors. If your competitors are using full color designs on distinctive paper, do you want to offer up a lower quality marketing piece for a prospect/customers’ consideration? That’s a question every business owner and marketing professional has to answer based on a more general marketing strategy.
IBM’s First Impression |
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By Luis Paez | November 25, 2009
I recently went to a tradeshow where the expo hall was filled with interesting vendors introducing new products and services. The marketing materials often attract your eye… but it was interesting to see who “skimped” on their marketing and branding. I took a photo of the materials from the trade show below, try to pick out which flyer/handout most jumps out at you (click for larger image):
Flyers collected at Trade show
To me, the one on the most right pops out because of the vibrant use of color and interesting subjects (3 superhero kids). Second in line is the one on the most left, because I am really into modern art and the postmodern graphic design illustration from the AT&T flyer definitely grabs my attention.
Notably, the least attention-grabbing is IBM’s flyer, which could have been created by a product manager intent on dissemminating the most information possible about their services, instead of a thoughtful marketer. Why did they think that a black and white flyer printed on copier paper with 1 stock photo inserted would impress anyone? Just look around – every other vendor uses at least color, if not double sided printing.
IBM's Flyer
I realize that IBM’s in a new world since they sold off their laptop division to Lenovo, but to continue to win business against their rivals they need to re-introduce their brand with a compelling “first impression”. Using black and white one sided marketing flyers just isn’t going to help you do that.
Insights from Marketing Leaders at the ANA Conference |
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By Luis Paez | November 18, 2009
The Association of National Advertisers event ended Nov. 8th in Phoenix, and many marketing veterans had advice to share for those who are struggling with their sales and marketing efforts. Great thoughts that echo much that we’ve been covering in this blog. Among the marketers interviewed:
- Stephen Quinn, Wal-Mart
- Keith Levy, Anheuser Busch InBev
- Elizabeth Harz, Electronic Arts
- Brian Maynard, Whirlpool Corporation
- Seth Greenberg, Intuit
Steve Harney interview – NAR 2009 |
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By qdadmin | November 15, 2009
Adam Nelson of QuantumDigital interviews Steve Harney of Steve Harney, Inc. at the Realtors Convention & Expo 2009 in San Diego.
Eric Cosway and Lee Lentz – NAR 2009 |
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By qdadmin | November 15, 2009
Eric Cosway, CMO & EVP of QuantumDigital, and Lee Lentz, Magician Extraordinaire, bring you greetings from the 2009 Realtors Conference & Expo in San Diego, CA.
Lee Lentz performs a money trick – NAR 2009 |
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By qdadmin | November 15, 2009
Professional magician Lee Lentz performs a money trick with a Realtors Conference & Expo 2009 attendee at the QuantumDigital booth #1941.
Eric Cosway talks about MLS Integration, Social Postcards, and 1-to-1 Postcards – NAR 2009 |
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By Eric Cosway | November 15, 2009
Eric Cosway, CMO & EVP of QuantumDigital, shares with us some of the new products and services QuantumDigital has launched for real estate brokers and agents; MLS Integration, Social Postcards, and 1-to-1 Postcards, at the NAR 2009 Convention in San Diego.
Interview with Stephen Pacinelli of Top Producer Systems – NAR 2009 |
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By Jamie Klemcke | November 15, 2009
My interview with Stephen Pacinelli of Top Producer Systems about their Market Snapshot prospecting system here at the NAR 2009 Convention in San Diego.
Direct Mail Meets Facebook at the QuantumDigital booth NAR 2009 |
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By Jamie Klemcke | November 14, 2009
