Whether or not you attended this year’s Marketing Innovation & Discovery Summit, we thought it would be worthwhile to share one of our own integrated marketing stories; a case study of QuantumDigital’s efforts to drive attendance for the event.

As with any campaign, there are successes and improvements that could be made. Our hope is that you consider our successes and lessons learned when planning your next campaign.

Whether you are an invitation recipient or a valued reader of The Direct Marketing Voice, we’d love your comments regarding which campaign tactic(s) grabbed your attention.

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OBJECTIVES:

QuantumDigital’s Marketing Innovation & Discovery Summit is an invitation-only, intimate gathering of executive leaders from top agencies and world-recognized retail brands. The purpose of the event is to educate, inform, and share ideas that will help agencies grow business amidst a rapidly evolving direct marketing landscape.

A highly personalized, multi-channel, integrated marketing campaign was developed to capture the attention of executive leaders from top agencies and world-recognized retail brands; individuals that were identified as high-level decision makers responsible for marketing strategy and business development. The goals were to generate awareness of the QuantumDigital brand and encourage the target audience to attend the event. QuantumDigital’s motivation for hosting such an event is to secure one-on-one time with each participant in order to develop and nurture strategic business partnerships.

CHALLENGES:

The campaign’s target audience is comprised of highly respected and creative executives within the advertising and marketing industries—a group that requires the use of highly strategic campaign concepts and fresh design elements in order to motivate response. QuantumDigital wanted to ensure its brand would be seen as a leader in the marketing industry space, with the ability to draw a world-class speaker lineup.

Additionally, QuantumDigital wanted to continue its efforts to break free from its print facility image and be viewed as a marketing technology, services, and product leader.

COMPONENTS:

To promote the event, QuantumDigital launched a multi-channel, multi-touch campaign featuring personalized posters, booklets, postcards, emails, a mobile-friendly website and PURLs. The campaign also utilized phone calls and a private LinkedIn Group for event participants.

To generate excitement and energy, the campaign theme capitalized on the Austin event location’s catchphrase – “the live music capital of the world” – integrating music elements in collateral design and participant gifts. It also leveraged the brand recognition of confirmed speakers from DDB Worldwide, Hallmark Cards, Golfsmith, Subway, TracyLocke, Merkle Interactive, and more. Additionally, QuantumDigital integrated the latest digital technologies, including unique QR codes and advanced variable-data printing, on mailed campaign pieces to attract interest, track individual responses, and demonstrate service capabilities.

Campaign components were selected in an effort to showcase QuantumDigital’s range of capabilities and thought leadership in the direct marketing space.

CAMPAIGN TOUCHPOINTS (in order of delivery):

13 direct touches included:

• Holiday greeting card event teaser
• Personalized save-the-date desktop calendar with summit dates highlighted
• Save-the-date email
• Personalized ‘concert’ poster inviting recipients to visit a PURL or scan a unique QR code to get details about the event
• Pre-invitation email
• Personalized formal booklet invitation containing details such as speakers, session topics, location, networking events, etc. Variable data content, PURLs and unique QR codes were included. Recipients were directed to a webpage where there was more information and a registration form.
• Formal invitation email
• Peel-off magnet postcard mailed to target audience either to remind them of the upcoming event or to provide a ‘last chance’ opportunity to RSVP to the event.
• Last chance to register email and a ‘looking forward to seeing you’ email for confirmed attendees
• Logistics email for speakers and logistics email for attendees
• Emailed invitation to non-attendees and media to watch the live stream
• Phone calls leading up to the event
• Private LinkedIn Group for participants

See video at end of article to view campaign pieces.

RESULTS:

51% Response rate to the event landing page via PURL (personalized URL) or QR code

32.9% Conversion rate (registrations via the landing page, unique visits)

69% Attendance rate (vs. registrations)

On average, email touches from the campaign had a 6.3% click through rate. That’s twice as high as noted industry norms (Mail Chimp cites a 3% email click-through rate)

SUCCESSES AND LESSONS LEARNED:

Concept/Design: The target audience was blown away by the concept and design of the pieces and the overall campaign. QuantumDigital used all original graphics – from event logo design, to illustrations, to email templates and web design. The concept used the energy and excitement associated with the event location (Austin, TX – live music capital of the world). The design was modern, up to date, and consistent throughout all touches of the campaign.

Use of personalization and technology: QuantumDigital leveraged the use of variable data printing to personalize each touchpoint with the recipient’s name and affiliated company. The bold use of the recipients’ names on pieces along with PURLs and QR codes captured attention and interest.

Multi-channel approach: QuantumDigital used a wide variety of channels and methods to reach the target audience: from oversized posters to personalized booklets, from desk-top calendars, to mobile web pages to emails and phone calls. The multi-channel approach kept communications fresh and relevant.

Timing: What worked exceptionally well was the timing of emails against mailed pieces. Before delivery of mailed pieces, the each member of the target audience received an email asking them to ‘keep and eye open’ for something arriving in their mailbox soon. After the delivery of mailed pieces, an email was sent as a follow up. This strategy increased email open rates as well as response rates via PURL and QR codes.

Event content: To generate excitement, the campaign theme highlighted the location of the event, Austin, TX (the live music capital of the world) and leveraged the brand recognition of confirmed speakers from DDB Worldwide, Hallmark Cards, Golfsmith, Subway, TracyLocke, Merkle Interactive, and more. This along with the scheduled session topics captured the attention of the target audience.

List management: QuantumDigital continually managed, updated, cleansed and reviewed the invitation list used for this campaign. As this is a laborious and manual process, it delayed the timing of a few touchpoints. Also, there were a few isolated instances where variable content areas on print pieces were incorrect. To improve, a streamlined and defined process for list management will be considered.

Social media engagement: As the date of the event drew near, details of the event were posted on social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress (The Direct Marketing Voice) and via a private Linkedin Group. Although there was some increased activity based on information/engagement via these channels, a more structured and defined strategy could have helped to drive more valuable conversation/participation and referrals.