Eric Cosway talks with Freddie Baird, EVP and COO of QuantumDigital, about the WOW customer service principle, what it means to their associates and to their clients.
Tag Archives: Freddie Baird
All Direct Marketing is Local
dans Marketing Strategy
I got a postcard in my mailbox last week…nothing unusual about that. Since I’ve been in the direct marketing business for a little more than a decade, I tend to pay attention to anything my family gets in the mail. Actually, my wife Wendi typically manages that process and leaves the most interesting items next to my car keys so I can take them to the office.
This particular mail piece stood out more than the rest, though. It was very personal in tone and directed to me with a nice Texan “howdy neighbor” welcome. It began with an introduction from Josh Sowers (the sender) and a touching picture of him, his wife and baby boy. The postcard goes on to mention Josh’s lawn care business. You see, Josh, recently back from military service in Iraq, had settled in our community, started his business and is now looking for customers.
This simple postcard got me thinking about the wonderful benefits of direct marketing. When done right, it can be very personal, local and fit any budget. Josh’s emotional hook was directed at those of us in his community…the consumers most likely to identify with him and his business.
As our economy searches for a bottom, effective direct marketing can be used as a great equalizer between the small community-grown start-ups and established businesses and those giant “big box” operations with enormous advertising budgets and jingle-enhanced broadcast media buys. That ability to help folks like Josh compete on par with much larger companies has a distinct green component as well.
You see, using direct marketing to effectively promote and grow local, small business helps a once thriving segment of our economy regain vitality. Statistics show that companies with less than 500 employees account for the vast majority of businesses in the US and employ roughly 50 percent of our workforce. And, most importantly, they possess an inherent interest in safeguarding the environmental health of our communities.
As Ann Bartz, with the The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) said in a recent article on GreenBiz.com, “What a small business is able to do that a large business is not, is they have a much closer connection with the community. They are a lot more flexible in the steps they are able to take. They are able to make their own decisions about what types of lighting they want to put in or what types of relations they want to have with other businesses in the community.”
If it is true that all politics is local, as Tip O’Neill, longtime Speaker of the House used to say, then I think it also rings true that strong direct marketing is local, provides a personal connection and is inherently community-centric. (See Dude’s post on personal marketing versus mass media).
Not bad for a simple postcard!
USPS to Keep Six-Day Delivery Schedule?
I’m not sure how many of you have heard rumors about the USPS moving to a five-day delivery schedule, so I thought I’d share a few articles to keep you updated on the latest and greatest announcements.
FederalTimes.com posted an article titled, USPS Asks for 5-day Delivery, Office Closings on February 1. It states that the nation’s postmaster general, Jack Potter, proposed to Congress that the USPS be allowed to move to a five-day delivery schedule, instead of the six-day schedule they’ve had in place since 1912. It is a recommendation that the nation’s postmaster general proposed as a way to try and cut costs. The article goes on to say that he is proposing this option to take place in seasonably slower months.
This is not a decision that is being taken lightly. Dan Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, said moving to a five-day delivery schedule could save money, but should be considered carefully. “It’s a double-edged sword,” Blair said. “Is this going to be a permanent change? … Will this exacerbate an already declining post office? Those are questions we don’t have an answer to.”
This change will affect our own business and our customers, but it isn’t easy to see what the true impact could be. One thing I do understand is that in this economy, we are all being forced to make difficult decisions to better our businesses.
Helpful Links:
USPS Asks for 5-Day Delivery, Office Closings
House Resolution: Keep Six-Day Mail Delivery
Making Your Direct Mail More Cost-Effective in 2009
With no signs that the economic slow-down is nearing a bottom, most companies are under considerable pressure to trim budgets. And retailers, real-estate agents and direct marketers are no exception. However, direct marketing media expenditures are forecasted to outpace general advertising in both 2008 and 2009 and, even during our economic slowdown, are expected to capture 53% of total advertising expenditures in 2009, according to The Direct Marketing Association.
(Click table to enlarge.)
While the tendency for smaller organizations may be to consider lowering their direct mail expenditures, the larger corporations are actually doing the reverse – but they are becoming more cost effective. In fact, lenders mailed approximately 8% more mortagage offers in Q2 2008, with Chase and Capital One increasing direct mail volume 90% and 140% (respectively) between quarters, according to Mintel Comperemedia.
So if you’re under pressure to cut your budget while being pressured to reach qualified prospects, the answer is – as Chase and Capital One undoubtedly know – as Eric Cosway stated last month, “… marketing budgets are dwindling so [marketers] have to be as efficient as possible with what they have.” While it’s certainly not a new strategy to plan a “low-cost-high-response” direct mail marketing campaign, it may behoove us to review the strategy and include some new tips you may not be privvy to.
- Plan carefully. No more ”spray and pray…” You need to know exactly how to reach your target audience in a less expensive way. To review, according to the DMA for 2008, an investment of $1 in direct marketing advertising expenditures is predicted to return, on average, $11.63 in incremental revenue across all industries. This exceeds the $11.56 achieved in 2007 and is expected to improve further to $11.74 in 2009.
- Unless you can meet face-to-face with your prospective clients, direct mail provides the next best form of personal communication- if you execute properly. Everyone knows that hand-written greeting cards mean more to your clients than mass-produced typed messages. Similarly instead of mailing “wall of word” letters, consider mailing a short, personal, picture-bearing, friendly, postcard with a personal recommendation on a local service, product or time-saving solution.
- Use the latest technology …and save on your design and production costs. While we likely wouldn’t suggest that you spread your mailings out over an entire year, you might want to focus in on drops every 4 weeks to a highly targeted group of customers. You control your volume by specialized targeting, perhaps beginning by marketing to ‘new customers’ within your audience.
If you are one of us being asked to tighten our budgets, and you likely are, then what I am saying will make perfect sense to you. The idea now is to do your research, present some innovative ideas and help your leadership regain some confidence — at least until the consumers do.
Going Postal AND Going Green
When I hear statements like, “[Junk mailers] are cutting down trees willy-nilly, and that has got to stop” from a consumer, I feel obligated to address this issue. As a person that is (obviously) very entrenched in the direct marketing industry and aware of the situation, I’m proud to say that we at QuantumDigital take the environment very seriously and encourage our customers to conduct a “greener” direct mail campaign.
Yes, I will be the first to admit that direct marketing relies heavily on paper supplies, which makes it all the more important that companies involved in the process be very conscious about taking the correct steps and work with other environmentally conscious companies such as Stora Enso, an integrated paper, packaging and forest products company AND… the Postal Service.
According to Newsweek,
“The Postal Service lost $1.1 billion in its latest quarter. That number would be even larger if it weren’t for direct mailings, which now constitute 52 percent of mail volume, up from 38 percent in 1990.” So now the DMA and Postal Service have decided to team up because they can both agree that, “direct mail is a key source of customers for small businesses.”
Well, I couldn’t agree more.
I encourage everyone to check out the Mail Moves America coalition.
Just some food for thought, brought to you by the Mail Moves America coalition: “Advertising mail… creates $686 billion of economic activity annually that would be adversely affected by even just one bill becoming law.” And to all of you postal workers out there, in the words of my two adorable children (and Buzz Lightyear), “you’ve got a friend in me!”
