Direct Mail answers for PR & Marketing Professionals, Nonprofits, and Small Business

How to Get More E-mail Addresses Without Being Labeled a Spammer

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Without a doubt, e-mail marketing is one of the most cost-effective tools for marketing to existing customers and prospects.  The challenge that most businesses and nonprofits face, however is how to collect the e-mail addresses of these existing and potential customers/donors.  This post will share some practical and easy-to-execute tips for increasing the size of your e-mail marketing list.

I'm writing this post because I get inquiries from several people per week who want to purchase e-mail lists from me.  Although I do provide mailing lists that contain physical residential and business addresses, I do not sell e-mail addresses because I don't think it's good business practice.

The passage of the Can Spam Act in 2003 mandates that direct-mail marketers get permission before sending e-mail marketing communications.  Quite simply, sending mass e-mails to people blindly is against the law.  Marketers who disregard this policy are at risk of being labeled "spammers," and have the potential of being black-listed by the major Internet Service Providers, which means that their e-mail account could be completely shut down.

So instead of buying e-mail addresses, here are some more practical ways to acquire the e-mail addresses of customers and prospects:

Online Tips:  Probably the most basic way to capture e-mail addresses is to have a graphic or widget on the sidebar of your website or blog.  It's critical to make sure that you have this on every page.  Most of the major e-mail service providers have widgets that allow you to simply copy and paste the necessary code directly into your website or blog.  You'll see an example of one of these near the very top of the right-hand side bar of every page on my blog.

If you have a blog, I also found that I get even more conversions from including a link in the text of my blog post.  At the conclusion of every blog post, I include the following text "Like what you're reading?  Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet?"  By including a sign up link right in the text, I'm able to capture people right in the act of reading one of my posts.

Off-line Tips: Did someone say direct mail?  Yes, that's right direct mail is a fantastic tool for motivating customers and prospects to sign up for your e-newsletter.  I recently launched a direct mail campaign for a client with the specific goal driving customers to sign up for their e-newsletter.  With a single mailing campaign we were able to get 18% of her existing customers to sign up for her e-newsletter.  This was not an elaborate mailing but just a simple, single-color postcard.

We purchased a specific URL for the mailing campaign that was short and required minimal typing-the simple URL did not contain any back slashes or strange characters.  Another tip to make it even easier to sign up would be to include a QR Code on the postcard so that users could simply scan the code and be delivered to the sign up page.

Other Tips: Keep your sign up form as simple as possible.  Many forms simply require subscribers to enter their e-mail address with no other information.  At most, you should ask for first name, last name and e-mail address.  By requiring more information than this during sign up, you risk people abandoning because they either don't want to take the time to fill out a lengthy form, or they don't feel comfortable having to provide that much information up front.  You can always go back later and attempt to capture more information with an optional follow up e-mail.  The bottom line is avoid making it too complicated for people to sign up.

A bonus tip is to offer an incentive of some sort for people who sign up for your e-newsletter; please note, this does not have to be anything elaborate.  By signing up, you can give them access to some premium content like a white paper or a recorded webinar.  As an alternative, if you have an e-commerce site you can offer them a one-time 10% discount, of give them a coupon code for a free widget with their first purchase.  Make sure that what you offer somehow relates to the content in your e-newsletter so that people don't sign up for the wrong reason and then just end up unsubscribing.

Don't make your customers and prospects jump through hoops if they want to sign up for your e-newsletter.  Take advantage of what you already have to entice your contacts to volunteer their e-mail addresses; this includes leveraging your website or blog, and using your customers’ physical addresses to make it as easy as possible to share their e-mail address.  By offering a simple incentive to sign up, you can greatly increase your odds of people taking action when they have the opportunity?

Like what you're reading?  Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet or are you following my blog's rss feed?

Do you have ideas on how to get customers and prospects to share their e-mail addresses?  Please share them in the comments section below.

Just How Are Targeted Mailing Lists Created?

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Last night as I watched "Facebook Obsession" on CNBC, it occurred to me that while people are obsessing about how much personal information is captured by online companies like Facebook and Google, they never think about the volumes of off-line personal data available to smart marketers.  I get asked all the time, "How is the information gathered for the mailing lists that you provide?"  Not surprisingly, it's gathered and compiled in much the same way as online data, and it's used by smart marketers like you to target an ideal audience for your product.  This post will provide a very brisk tour of what types of lists are available and their data sources.

Why do you need to know this information? So many people uncover new markets to target that they never knew existed.  Once you understand what sort of information is available, you will undoubtedly make better decisions about how to target new customers.

So how is consumer data really collected?
Can you answer "yes" to any of these questions?
•    Do you use any loyalty cards?
•    Do you subscribe to any magazines?
•    Do you make purchases with a credit card?
•    Do you mail back product warranties?
•    Do you completer online surveys, or surveys when you attend events?
•    Have you donated to a charity recently?
•    Have you moved recently?
Information is collected and compiled any time you answer "yes" to any of the above questions.  There are many other sources that are not even listed; these are just some of the most common.  The important thing to understand is that there are huge volumes of robust data available for you to use for marketing.

How can I reach consumers?  Just about everyone knows that mailing lists can be complied using geography, but most people are completely unaware of lifestyle mailing lists which instead target prospects based on their hobbies and past times.  Examples of these lists include, people who golf, people who enjoy drinking wine, people who listen to opera, people who like to sew, etc.  If your target customer demographic lines up with any of these, than this is a much better place to start than with geography alone.

Believe it or not, your charitable donations are tracked and used to compile a Charitable Donors list; this is possibly the most effective lists available for nonprofits to grow their list of donors.

Yes, even medical information is available to use for creating targeted lists.  These lists are most commonly used by drug companies, and by physicians who are conducting medical trials.  Data collected on surveys completed at health fairs is used to target people with arthritis, diabetes, and many other medical ailments.

Don't worry, US Federal HIPAA laws prevent your medical records from being used for this purpose, but many people volunteer this information because they appreciate receiving coupons for certain medicines, and they like being educated about what types of treatments are available to address their disease or medical condition.

What if my target customers are other businesses?  If you own a business or if you know someone who does, then you're probably familiar with the volumes of forms that need to be submitted to local, state and federal government offices.  All of this information can be harvested by marketers to determine things like annual estimated revenue, number of employees, and even the name of the president, owner or CEO.  In addition, you can easily target certain specific industries like medical doctors, attorneys, architects, etc.

The bottom line is that using precise data to target specific businesses is as easy as using consumer data to target residential customers.

What if I don't really want to interact with my prospect using snail mail?  Even if you want to develop a following online, traditional direct mail is a fantastic way to get started.  You can pull prospects to your website or blogging using QR Codes or PURLS and then entice them to sign up for your e-newsletter or e-zine.  In many cases, it's easier to pinpoint the demographic that you want off-line and pull them to your online content.

Why waste money trying to market to everyone, when you can easily identify prospects who are truly interested in your product or service and market just to them. 

If you have any questions about mailing lists, please click here to submit your inquiry-I'll be happy to do some research and determine exactly what's available in your target market for free.

Like what you're reading?  Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet or are you following my blog's rss feed?

What criteria do you use to target prospects?  Please share your comments below.

Looking Ahead: Marketing Trends for the New Year and Beyond

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I read a blog post this week that estimates that a typical American is exposed to 30,000 advertising messages a day-wow!  Marketing has evolved dramatically over the course of the last few years, and in another article Jim Arnold suggests that we’ve finally reached the tipping point where attraction marketing will displace disruption (interruption) marketing.  So what are the implications of this as we transition into a new year?  The implications are HUGE!  The key is to avoid adding to the marketing “noise” that’s already out there by keeping your marketing message targeted, relevant and to make your message as interactive as possible.  This post will highlight a few strategies to help you with this.

Understand Who Is In Your Target Audience and Who Isn’t: Nobody can afford to market to everybody, so it will continue to be critical to define a specific target audience.  For identifying prospects via direct mail, most people are aware of Business to Business Lists and Residential Mailing Lists, but few are aware of the power to target using Lifestyle Mailing Lists.  

Unfortunately, most nonprofits are unaware of the existence of Charitable Donor Mailing Lists; these probably represent the most effective way to attract new charitable donors.  The key here is not to market to as many people as possible, but to target and market to the right audience.

Yes, You Still Need to Invest Marketing Dollars on Existing Customers and Donors: The sad truth is that across nonprofits and for-profit businesses, only about 20% of marketing budgets are dedicated to donor or customer retention while 62% is focused on acquisition.  Simply put, more than three times as much money is spent trying to find new customers than is spent trying to keep the ones they’ve already got.    Yet, according to the website Marketing Sherpa, it costs 5-7 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to sell more to an existing customer.  Absolutely no one can afford to neglect their existing donors or customers; for more information related to this, take a look at my recent post, “Help, I need More Customers, I need More Donors!”

Personalization is vital!  One of the few ways, to break through the clutter of the 30,000 advertising messages that people are bombarded with each day is to personalize your communication.  Certainly this simplest, and arguably the most important way to do this is to greet your prospect by name.  Technology has made it much easier and much more cost effective to include personalization in your marketing campaigns.  In fact, personalization is no longer limited to simply including a name; take a look at my recent post, How to Create Marketing that Makes People Upset Who DON'T Receive it.  What’s stopping you from personalizing your marketing communications?

Interacting With Your Target Audience: Communication with customs, donors and prospects need to be a 2-way street.  With that in mind, you need to make it as easy as possible to for people to interact with you.  PURLs combine both the concept of personalization and interaction and can be used with both direct mail and targeted e-mail communications. 

In terms of simplicity, nothing makes it easier to generate interaction with an audience than using QR Codes.  They are free and as more and more people purchase smart phones, they are becoming more and more prevalent in all types of marketing materials including billboards, t-shirts, real estate signs and even direct mail.  What are you doing to make it as easy as possible for your customers to interact with you?

As a result of the blistering pace of change, adjusting your marketing plan each year is no longer optional-it's mandatory.  In fact, it’s probably best to reevaluate your marketing plan on at least a quarterly basis. 

Please stop back next week as I add a few more marketing trends for the New Year and beyond.  Please add any trends that you see in the comments section below.

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Integrated Direct Marketing: 4 Tactics to Enhance any Direct Mail Campaign

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Guest Post from MaKenzie Birchell

What can you do to make your next direct mail campaign even more successful?  Integrate direct marketing options to boost the impact of your direct mail piece.  In this post, I’ve listed some of the best (and most budget-friendly!) options to help you work wonders with your limited direct mail investment.  These low to no-cost tactics will help you to plan and execute an entire integrated campaign:

E-Mail E-mail is one of today’s least expensive ways to reach a potential customer.  If you’ve already set up an opt-in list, keep up the good work—building a list is half the battle!  If you want to reach potential customers who have not opted in, you can work with a vendor to have e-mail addresses appended to your existing customer list or consider renting e-mail addresses from a direct marketing company that offers list rental services. 

To tie your e-mail to your direct mail campaign, be sure to use the same images, color scheme, etc.  If your direct mail and e-mail mirror one another, it’s easier for recipients to recognize your brand.  Try preparing recipients with an e-mail stating, “Watch for a special offer mailed to your home!”  If you’ve included an expiration date on the offer, you can also send a message after the mailing date to confirm its receipt and remind customers to redeem it.  Sending multiple messages can increase impact, but be sure to keep them short and courteous; this will decrease your chances prospects unsubscribing or worse yet, labeling your marketing communication as spam.

Social Media Whether you’ve already created profiles for your business at every social media outlet available, or you’ve only just added a profile picture to your Facebook page, social media can be a great tool to stay connected—especially to current customers.  You can utilize your social media profiles in a similar manner as we discussed with E-mail marketing--boosting awareness of your direct mail campaign before and after its execution to improve response rates.  The nice thing about social media is that some platforms or audiences accept repeating announcements.  For example, on Twitter it won’t be frowned upon to reiterate a tweet two to three times a day with proper spacing.  You can also expand your online following by including recognizable social media logos (like Facebook and Twitter) in the design of your direct mail piece, or better yet include an offer for a free gift or a discount to incentivize recipients to “follow” or “friend” your business!

Telemarketing  Though the practice of telemarketing has not always been looked upon as the most favorable of marketing tactics, it is effective when executed correctly.  The best strategy for well accepted calls is strictly contacting current customers or warm leads, and think of it as a courtesy call.  Start with the “heads-up” call before your campaign is executed.  (We’ll talk about making the confirmation/reminder call in just a bit.) 

Before you call, write a script, so you have guidelines to stick to that will keep your conversation on track.  The script should always include asking if this is a good time to call, thanking customers for their current or past business, and informing them that this is simply a courtesy call to alert them of the special offer they’ll be receiving in the mail, should they wish to take advantage of it. 

If, unfortunately, your call recipient does not offer a positive response, this is still a constructive opportunity for two reasons:  One, you can make your offer transferrable!  Politely tell them that if they do not wish to use the offer when it arrives, they’re more than welcome to pass it on to a friend or family member.  The second is that this will also tell you who you can leave off your list, should you choose to move forward with confirmation/reminder calls after your mail piece is sent!  Small business owners have a great advantage with this tactic, as they’re more apt to have personal contact with their customers on a daily basis.

Blogging This fourth and final tip may sound unorthodox to an overwhelmed business owner, but if--like many business owners--you are a passionate, seasoned professional in your industry, your wealth of knowledge may be one of the best marketing outlets at your disposal.  If you already utilize a blog to reach your customers, it’s simple to use that same influence to help boost your direct mail campaign by adding a short post to give your readers a “heads-up” about your mail piece and express your enthusiasm about your offer. 

If your blog is known for its informational or entertaining content, your audience will likely tolerate a brief promotional mention here or there.  (In fact, you may be doing them a favor by alerting them to your offer, should they happen to miss your direct mail piece.) You can also include the URL to your blog on your direct mail piece to gain even more followers! 

If the link to your blog seems too long to include in your mailing, consider purchasing a shorter URL and pointing it to your blog, or at the very least, include your website URL (that hopefully includes an easily spotted link to your blog!).  You may also want to include a QR Code on your direct mail piece that will deliver smart phone users directly to your blog.

If you don’t have a blog, consider surveying current clients to get their feedback about the potential value of blogging and to ask them for topics of interest.  Even if you can only commit to one or two posts per month, you may be helping your customers more than you realize, in addition to providing yourself with a new marketing channel!
 
It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day operations of running a small business, but remember that marketing efforts should be consistently planned and evaluated, not treated as intermittent events occurring only when business is slow.  Choosing marketing methods that are direct, targeted, and work well together will strengthen your brand, as well as reinforce the image you want to portray to customers.  If your business could use a boost, research more tips on integrated direct marketing tactics and explore which combinations are right for you and your audience!

Thank you in advance for sharing your recommendations for integrated marketing success in the comments section below.

About the Author: MaKenzie Birchell
MaKenzie Birchell is a blogger, social media strategist, and the Marketing Coordinator for Bluewater, provider of software and integrated direct marketing solutions for multi-unit corporations.  MaKenzie has over seven years of experience in the creation, implementation, and execution of direct marketing campaigns. Spending much of her career in sales and marketing roles at a franchise level, she has a unique appreciation for campaigns with local connections.  For more marketing tips and tricks, check out MaKenzie on the Bluewater Blog.

How Much is Your Customer List Worth Any Way?

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If you’re not currently marketing to your customers, think about how valuable your existing custom list would be to your biggest competitor.  Your customer list would be extremely valuable to a competitor.   What would a competitor do with your list?  They’d reach out to your customers to develop a relationship and generate business.  The irony here is that while you may realize how valuable your customer list would be to a competitor, you probably fail to realize how valuable of an asset it is for your own business.  If you’re not consistently marketing to your existing customers, you’re in essence saying that your existing customers are not valuable.

So many businesses miss the point that marketing to existing customers is not just about making a sale, it’s about developing or strengthening a relationship.  Why is this important?  If you’ve developed strong relationships with your customers, they will naturally think of you when they are ready to buy, or when a friend is looking for a referral.  You may not be able to control WHEN a customer is ready to make a purchase, but you absolutely can influence how a customer feels about your company and how likely they are to remember you in their time of need.

Are you guilty of communicating with your customers mainly by invoice?  In his book, Nurturing Customer Relationships, Jim Cecil says "American businesses spend billions in marketing each year to acquire new customers, only to lose them through simple neglect.   We only show interest when we want an order…and then communicate mainly by invoice."  Do this sound like your organization?  How do you think it makes your existing customers feel if you communicate mainly by invoice?  Do you think they feel taken for granted?

What should I send my customers?  The natural inclination is to send customers special offers and solicitations for more business.  While it's fine to include this in your customer marketing mix, this should NOT be the only type of communication that you send to existing customers; they will get tired of you quickly.  If they are signed up to an e-newsletter they will most likely unsubscribe, and they will un-follow you in social media spheres like Twitter and Facebook. 

To maintain a healthy marketing mix, you should share advice and tips that are relevant to your customers.  This can include information about emerging technology, special events and looming deadlines for new rules & regulations.

For instance, as a direct mail professional, I keep my customers educated about all of the US Postal Holidays and I provide them with tips on how to save money with postage.  For nonprofit clients, I help them get approved to mail at the nonprofit rate, and I educate them about restrictions for mailing at the nonprofit rate.   Questions from my customers were the inspiration for all of these blog posts.  By helping my customers with their questions, I’m strengthening their relationship with me.

What information do you know that could be beneficial to your customers?  In many cases things that may seem common knowledge to you as an expert, can really lead to "ah ha" moments for your customers when you share them.  This means that as an expert in your industry, it's probably much easier for you to share valuable information with your existing customers than you may realize. 

Start a conversation with your customers and find out what they don’t know.  You can do this by picking up the phone, sending an e-mail or by using a free survey tool like SurveyMonkey to poll your customers and take the first step of collecting this valuable data.

Besides making a sale, what other steps should I get my customers to take?  Of course making a sale is the ultimate goal of any customer interaction, but there are other steps customers can take to move forward into your sales funnel.  For instance, you can encourage customers to sign up for your e-newsletter, follow you on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.  Getting customers to take any of these steps will naturally make them closer to you, and it will provide you with an additional channel to use to market to them.

Right now, if you only have a physical mailing address for your customers, direct mail is that logical place to begin to collect other information and connect with customers online and via social media.  Modern printing technology has made it even easier to interact with your customers online with vehicles like QR Codes and PURLs.

Why is this so important?  Not too long ago, I had coffee with a good friend who is a commercial realtor.  She explained that she’d recently bumped into an old client at the grocery store.  The realtor went on to tell me that her previous client had expanded her business into 3 new locations, and that she would have liked to have worked with my commercial realtor friend, but since they’d fallen out of touch, she’d ended up working with a different commercial realtor.  My commercial realtor friend was devastated as she calculated the 10’s of thousands of dollars that she’d missed out on because she’d failed to market to her existing clients.  Could this same thing to happen to you?

Stop taking your existing customers for granted.  Develop and execute a plan today that will deliver valuable content to your existing customers on a consistent basis.  Investing in this type of marketing strategy with your existing customers will maintain top-of-mind awareness and assure that they think of you when they are ready to make a purchase or refer a trusted friend or family member.

Like what you're reading?  Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet or are you following my blog's rss feed?

What's been your experience marketing to your existing customers?  Thank you for sharing this in the comments section below.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know about Targeted Mailing Lists

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Question: What's one of the biggest reasons that direct mail campaigns fail?  Answer: Because a poorly targeted list was used.  While the mailing list is the number one influencer of the success of your mailing campaign, typically very little brain-power is devoted to crafting the right list.  This is a tragedy that small businesses, large companies and nonprofits are all guilty of.  If you think you may be guilty of this, read on to find out how to make sure that you're taking the right steps to select the best possible mailing list for you.

Who is your target market?  Please DO NOT say "anyone and everyone," or "anyone with a pulse."  Why?  For a variety of reasons:
1) Budget constraints: Very few organizations have the marketing budget to be able to afford to market  to everyone and anyone.  Even organizations with large budgets and mass appeal recognize that it's not profitable to try to reach everyone, so they will typically pinpoint the most profitable segments of their target audience and direct unique marketing campaigns at each specific segment.
2) Relevance: The less well-defined a target market, the less relevant the marketing message.  Why is this important?  People will NOT respond to a message that is not relevant to them.  For example, if you own a store that sells fine imported cigars, you may think that it would be a good idea to target the closest people to your store-right?  In fact, this is the default approach that almost everyone takes to direct mail marketing BUT in almost all cases this is NOT the correct approach.  In fact, the hypothetical cigar store-owner would be much better served to target subscribers to a magazine like "Cigar Aficionado."  Are mailing lists like this available?  ABSOLUTELY!  However, just like the title of this post, most people don't know what they don't know, and instead of asking questions, they make poor decisions about the list they use for their marketing.  Remember, the list is the most important part!

What sorts of lists are available?  Lifestyle Mailing Lists may be the absolute best for identifying targeted prospects.  These lists looks at people's passions and hobbies-they are very well suited for establishing an emotional bond with prospects.  Magazine subscription data, purchase habits, product warranties and surveys all help to profile people who end up on these lists.  The earlier example of people who enjoy smoking cigars qualifies as a lifestyle list.  Could there be a lifestyle list that pinpoints your target customer demographic?

For medical professionals, drug companies and makers of medical equipment, there are actually lists of people with specific medical ailments.  For instance, there's a list of people who suffer from asthma-what a great prospect list for allergists!  The information on all of these lists is self-reported, typically at health fairs, and therefore it does not compromise the person's confidential healthcare records.  Does your product or service improve the quality of life for your customers or does it help them to stay healthy?  If so, a medical ailment list may be a great option for you.

For those targeting other businesses as prospects, business lists are the logical choice, right?  Yes, but in addition to targeting by industry and geography, you can also target by number of employees, number of years in business, estimated annual revenue etc.  Leveraging these more specific criteria allow you to identify a more targeted list.  For instance a company could target simply plumbers, but they may find that plumbers who have been in business for at least 2 years and have at least 10 employees are a better fit for their product or service.  How would you know which criteria is best?  Look at the makeup of your existing customer list.

Of course there are even lists of charitable donors; these may be the perfect choice for nonprofits that are looking to grow their donor base.  These lists tap into people who already have a history of supporting charitable causes by making donations.  This certainly leads to higher conversion rates than a list created based on geographic criteria alone.

To summarize, you should work really hard to define a specific target market.  This will not only maximize your limited marketing budget, but it will assure that the communication you send to your target audience is relevant.  Remember, the default mailing list targets people or businesses in the closest zip codes, but there is almost always a better list available that captures your true target audience.  Ask questions and FIND the list that will get you the best return on your investment.  A superior list will take a marginally profitable campaign or an unprofitable campaign and make it profitable.

Incidentally, if you're wondering about mailing list options for you, simply click here, and I'll be happy to do a little homework and help to research a targeted list just for you!

Like what you're reading?  Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet or are you following my blog's rss feed?

Thank you in advance for sharing your comments below about targeted mailing lists.

How Direct Mail Can Help Integrate Your Marketing

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This blog post is inspired by my integrated marketing webinar today with professional copywriter, Michelle Salater of Sūmèr. Old school direct mail tactics that involve blasting out thousands of pieces to untargeted prospects are not very effective.  Within the last few years, new direct mail technology has led to a dramatic evolution in the way in which mail can be targeted, personalized and integrated with online marketing.   If you’re curious to see how direct mail can help to integrate your marketing please read on.

Tools for real integration with online content. Yes, that’s right, just because you decide to use direct mail as a medium to communicate with clients or prospects, your interaction doesn’t have to end  there.  In fact, your mail piece can be the instigator of a conversation with your client-how?

Consider using PURLS (Personalized URLs).  A personalized landing page is created for each recipient, and then printed on the direct mail piece.  These personalized pages, typically include the name of the recipient in the URL or web address.  When the recipient visits their landing page, they are greeted by name, and marketers who use PURLS get great analytics in return because they know exactly which clients or prospects went to their landing pages.  To learn more about PURLS, you’ll want to take a look at Use PURLs to Improve the Response of your next Direct Mail Campaign.

QR Codes are another viable way to pull direct mail recipients directly from a mail piece to a URL.  The 
super-slick thing about using QR Codes is that recipients simply have to point their smart phone at the QR Code to arrive at the desired URL.

If you want to test out QR Codes on your smart phone, take a look at my post, Help, I Want to Include QR Codes in my Marketing Mix but don't know Where to Start!, and if you want to see how clever marketers are leveraging the power of QR Codes in their marketing right now, take a look at Why Should You Care About QR Codes Anyway?

What are the keys to success with integrated marketing?

Target: Of course the best marketing campaign will crash and burn if you don’t target the right audience.  You should never forget to include your existing customers when you are planning your marketing.  Besides getting additional business from existing customers, and maintaining customer loyalty, marketing to existing customers will lead to referral business.

Outside of existing customers, it’s important to define your best prospects and target your marketing at them.  If you‘re looking for more prospects, you should consider not only a residential database, and a business database, but you should also think about using a lifestyle database that targets people based on their hobbies and interests.  You can’t afford to market to everyone, so target only those who are most likely to respond.

Get Personal! Many of you reading this post receive personalized e-mail communication on a consistent basis.  The same technology that’s used to personalize e-mail can be used to personalize printed direct mail marketing pieces.  Studies show that personalized marketing consistently generates higher response rates than generic marketing, so you owe it to yourself to leverage the data that you have about clients and prospects and make your marketing about them instead of entirely about you.  If you want to sell them something or interact with them, the first step is to get their attention-everyone likes to see their name.  If you need more convincing, here’s an example of a hyper-personal campaign that we did that got a lot of attention.

Rinse and repeat! There are very few single-shot campaigns that will pay for themselves and then generate money for your business on top of that-this is regardless of the communication medium that you choose.  If you’ve done a truly good job of identifying a target audience for your marketing efforts, then you owe it to yourself to interact with them consistently.

One of the biggest reasons that people don’t buy your product or service is simply an issue of timing.  If you consistently communicate with them, they will think of you first when they are ready to make their purchase.  In most cases, you can’t control when they are ready to pull the trigger, but you can employ a marketing plan that will schedule interactions with them consistently so that you’ll be top of mind when the time comes for them to make a purchase.

Direct mail is a viable tool for interacting with your clients and driving them to your online content.  PURLS and QR codes are two of the most obvious ways to engage customers and drive them to your online content.  Successful campaigns focus on a well-defined target market, address customers and prospects by name, and don’t end after a single communication.  Have you incorporated this into your marketing strategy yet?

Like what you're reading?  Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet or are you following my blog's rss feed?

What do you think about PURLS, QR Codes and integrated marketing? Thank you in advance for sharing your comments below.

Why Direct Mail Doesn't Have to Look Sexy to be Effective

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Sex sells, doesn't it?  With that in mind, shouldn't clever marketers like you make every effort to include sexy graphics as part of your direct mail campaign?  I'm not talking about tasteless photos of scantily-clad people here, but I am talking about eye-popping, full-color images that are the default choice for most direct marketing.  While most marketers use these sexy images, here's an example of an "un-sexy" mailer that one of my client's used recently that performed very well.  Wondering why it performed so well?

So what's the most important part of your mailing campaign?  If you answered “the mailing list,” then you are correct.  Not only is the list the most important, but in fact, research from John Coe’s book, The Fundamentals of Business-to-Business Sales & Marketing, indicates that 50% -70% of the success of a mailing campaign is determined by the mailing list.  Whether you're are a nonprofit or a for-profit business, using a quality mailing list should be your #1 priority.  Unfortunately, the mailing list is often picked as an afterthought, and the result of this is a campaign that looks visually stunning but performs poorly. 

In this case, the postcard campaign was launched by a retirement community looking to attract new residents.  They checked where their most recent residents were coming from and focused their prospecting on those same neighborhoods; then, they not only applied an age-criteria, but they also used wealth-modeling to assure that prospects were in a financial position to be able to afford what they were offering.   Most successful prospect lists combine several relevant criteria to produce the right list.  The added benefit of applying multiple criteria is that it reduces the size of the prospect list and makes the campaign less expensive while improving the response rates.

After the mailing list, what is the next most important key for success?  Another reason the example postcard was successful was because it offered an incentive to those who responded.  In this case, prospects who attended one of their Hurricane Parties received a Hurricane Survival Kit.  Yes, in fact, the second most important element of a successful campaign is providing prospects with compelling offer or incentive to respond.   On average, the offer makes up about 20% of the success of your campaign.

How should I define success?  This is such an important questions that so often gets overlooked!  If goals aren't set before your campaign is launched, the default goal is to make a sale of your product or service.  This is a mistake because quite often you can move a prospect further in your sales funnel without "making a sale.”  Examples of this include using your direct mail campaign to capture e-mail addresses, to attract Facebook fans, to get followers on Twitter, to entice prospects to “test drive” your product or to visit a PURL page.

The fact is that sales of expensive products or services almost always multi-touch efforts.  One marketing campaign is almost never enough to "make the sale," but by setting goals and moving prospects in the right direction you will ultimately make a sale.  Too many marketers get frustrated after the initial campaign and abandon their prospects.

This "ugly duckling" postcard campaign was successful because it recognized the importance of identifying the right mailing list, it provided a compelling offer and it set realistic goals for “success.”  Oh, and by the way, did I mention that by printing in black ink only, my client realized substantial savings?  Even in today's full-color dominated printing world black ink printing is still substantially less expensive, particularly for certain quantities.

This specific campaign was very well-planned, and there are other contributing factors that led to its success.  Please be sure to stop back and check for future posts that continue to illustrate other successful elements of this “un-sexy” campaign.

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What's been your experience using high-powered graphics with direct mail?  Have you experimented with more pedestrian marketing like the sample provided in this post?  Please take a second to share your opinions in the comments section below.

Instant Gratification: The Elusive Marketing Goal

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Doesn't everyone want instant gratification with their marketing results?  After all, we live in an instant gratification-obsessed society.  So much can be accomplished so quickly with just a few clicks on a smart phone, ipad or laptop.  Based on this, isn't it realistic to expect instant gratification from your marketing efforts?

Let's talk about new customers.  The common metric with new customers is that it takes on average a minimum of 7 touches before someone will do business with you.  Armed with this information, do you really think that you can launch a single, isolated marketing campaign and expect real, tangible results?  Most likely, the answer is "no."  The reality is that marketing instant gratification is an unrealistic expectation regardless of which platform you use.  There is no silver bullet or magic formula.  Successful marketing requires consistent communication with a well-targeted audience of prospects.

Do you take the path of least resistance?  Perhaps one of the easiest methods to reach out to existing customers is via an e-mail blast.  This week alone, I've already received a few dozen e-mail blasts.  In more than half of the cases, I never gave consent to be on the sender's e-mail distribution list, and in some cases I'm not even familiar with the organization sending the e-mail.  Is this a big deal?  Absolutely!  In 2004, Congress passed the "Can-Spam" Act which put consent guidelines in place for companies doing e-mail marketing.

What are the consequences of ignoring Can-Spam?  In addition to being fined, one of the worst punishments is to get blacklisted by the major ISPs.  What does this mean?   It means that not only will you be banned from sending e-blasts, but your entire business e-mail account will be shut down.  Here's a great blog post that succinctly explains how easy it is to get labeled a spammer.

Does this mean that e-mail is not an effective form of communication?  Absolutely not!  When done correctly with opt-it permission and a simple unsubscribe option, e-mail can be a very effective tool for maintaining top of mind awareness and generating business.  In fact although my business involves print and direct mail, I also have a permission-based e-newsletter that I use to communicate with existing clients and prospects.

Where can I find people who will want to sign up for my organization's e-newsletter?  For website and blog visitors, you should prominently display an e-newsletter sign-up prompt on every page.  For existing customers or nonprofit donors, you should think about sending a direct mail piece to get them to sign up for your e-newsletter, become a Facebook Fan, or follow you on Twitter.  If you want to reach out to new prospects who meet your target demographic, you should consider acquiring a target business to business or residential mailing list.  Done correctly, you're not buying e-mail addresses here (remember the "permission" thing!), you're actually buying the physical addresses of your target audience.  Instead of trying to sell them your product right off the bat, consider using your initial direct mail campaign to get them to interact with you via social media (Facebook, Twitter, e-newsletter, etc.).  Of course, if you want customers to stay signed up for your e-newsletter, you have to mix special offers or deals with quality content that's interesting to your customers, or they will most likely unsubscribe.

So what's someone to do who wants to launch a successful marketing campaign?  There are so many options for marketing your business today that it's mind-blowing?  Before latching onto the easiest form or marketing or before taking advantage of the next offer that walks in the door, consider stepping back and implementing a marketing plan and establishing a marketing budget.  Armed with a plan and a budget, you will assure yourself that you are leveraging your limited marketing budget in the most effective way possible.  Here's a very helpful post from Michelle Salater that shares simple steps that you can use to get your marketing plan in order.

It's time to stop taking short cuts with your marketing and to put a real plan in place.  Quick fix plans will not get the job done.  Existing customers and potential customers expect more from you, and the reality is that the very future of your business or nonprofit organization depends on you getting this right.

To look at it from another perspective, I recently returned from vacation with my family.  Our hotel room was on the 5th floor surrounded by tall pines.  One of my kid's said, "Wow dad, how did that tree get so tall?"  As we discussed the concept of a tree starting as a seed and growing just a little bit each year, it occurred to me how much successful marketing is like a tall tree.  In the early stages of marketing, you may notice almost no progress or results, but done consistently-1 small branch growing at a time, successful marketing has the potential to have a dramatic impact on almost any business or nonprofit.  The problem is that most people declare their marketing efforts a failure and stop too soon.  Please don't give up, and don't fall into this trap!

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Thank you for sharing comments about your experience marketing in the section below.

3 More Tips to Save Money on your Nonprofit Direct Mail Appeal

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Your organization needs money to support your great cause, to pay your staff, to keep the lights on and yes, to reinvest in more fundraising.  Since there’s only a limited supply of funds to go around, here are some more tips to stretch your budget during your next mailing campaign.

For prospect mailings use a smaller, targeted database instead of a larger database.  Yes, it actually costs money to get new donors.  According to Mal Warwick’s book, Revolution In The Mailbox, nonprofit managers have to expect to lose between 15-50% of their investment in mail “prospecting” or “donor acquisition.”  So knowing this why would you spend money trying to attract new donors?  Successful fundraisers think of prospecting campaigns as investments in the future of their organization.  Donor attrition is inevitable, and unless you want your donor base to shrink, you have to have a plan to find new supporters who will keep your organization healthy over the long haul.

Since you know that getting new donors can be expensive, limit your costs by sticking with a smaller, more-targeted list that will generate a higher return-on-investment.  While it’s tempting to send an acquisition campaign to the ritzy neighborhoods in town, or to the communities where your board members live, there are more scientific ways to develop a mailing list.  Don’t compromise on your mailing list!  Warwick’s research shows that at least 50% of the success of a direct mail campaign is determined by quality the mailing list. 

More scientific ways of compiling a prospect list include targeting Charitable Donors who have a history of supporting nonprofits or finding a common bond with potential donors by using a Lifestyle List.  Within the realm of Charitable Donor lists there are even lists available targeting donors who support environmental causes.  Is your organization faith-based?  There are faith-based mailing lists.  Does your organization support children?  There are targeted lists of grandparents available.  Does your organization support the arts?  You can target those with an arts and entertainment lifestyle.  Do you support those in the military?  There are lists available of military veterans.  Think about the backgrounds or pastimes of the donors who support your organization most passionately, and identify a prospect list that matches these passions.

List partnering.  If your nonprofit organization has sponsor-supported events, then you should consider list-partnering with the sponsoring organization or organizations.  Here’s a link to a recent post that I wrote about List Partnering.  The critical thing to understand here is that your sponsors already have established relationships with their customers, and the response rate will be dramatically increased because of these relationships.  In addition to generating more attendance at your events, this is a fantastic way to introduce people to your organization and to attract new donors.

Segment your mailing list.  If you can’t afford to mail to your entire donor list, then instead of cancelling your fundraising campaign, consider segmenting your list and mailing to a smaller audience.  There are many ways to segment including looking at the donation amount, who donates most frequently, and who donated most recently.  Mal Warwick’s research shows that those who donated most recently are most likely to donate again.  What other information do you have about your donors in your database?  How can you use this information to make your appeal more relevant to a segment of your list?

In summary, your existing donor list is a gold mine!  Even if you can’t afford to reach out to the entire list, be smart and send a targeted appeal to a specific segment of your list.   In addition, acquiring new donors is an expensive, but necessary exercise.  Find businesses that support your cause and partner with them to use their client lists.  If you have to purchase your own prospect list, seek out a small list that has relevance to your cause & mission.

If you found these tips helpful, be sure to check out last week’s post, 3 Ways for your Nonprofit to Save Money on your Next Direct Mail Appeal.  Like what you're reading?  Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet or are you following my blog's rss feed?

Please share your suggestions below in the comments section for money-saving direct mail tips.