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

How to Thank Those Who've Helped You The Most

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People help us every day, but we don't always have an opportunity to thank them.  The good news is that there's no statute of limitations for saying "thank you" to someone.  In fact, sometimes it's better to thank a friend with actions instead of words.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this post lists some very simple actions that you can take to thank just about anyone who's helped you.

Give Referrals: Probably the greatest compliment that you can give to a peer or mentor is to refer business to him or her.  The key to a great referral is to be sure that you understand both the business that you're referring, and the person receiving the referral.  Done correctly, it's actually a way of thanking both parties.  This is why being a good listener is critical to providing quality referrals.  One quality referral is worth a thousand unqualified, generic "referrals." 

Saying “thank you” to Bloggers: Do you have any peers or mentors who are bloggers?  Thanking bloggers who have helped you takes almost no time.  Probably the greatest way to thank a blogger is to add a comment to one of his or her blog posts.  This can be as simple as just mentioning why you liked a particular post or how it helped you.  Another really fast and easy way to say thanks to a blogger is to share a post via your social network.  This could mean adding a post to your Facebook page, sharing it with your LinkedIn contacts, retweeting a post on Twitter, or adding a post to one of you social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, or Technorati.

Event Promotion:  Do any of the people you want to thank have special events coming up?  If so, promoting someone's event is a terrific way of saying thanks.  This could be someone's open house, after-hours social event, speaking engagement or webinar.  In addition, I've got so many friends who support terrific nonprofit causes-why not help your friends by promoting their cause across your network of family, friends and business connections?  This is yet another example of a free way to say “thank you” that is a minimal investment of time.

Secure Speaking Engagements:  Are any of the people you want to thank experts in their field?  Are they good speakers?  If so, then you may want to consider thanking them by finding them speaking engagements.  If you’re interested in their message then it’s quite likely that your audience of peers will be interested as well.

Share Some Inspiration:  What gets you excited?  Hopefully each day you encounter something that inspires or excites you-why not share this with a friend, coworker, peer or client as a way of saying “thank you?”  If you share a common bond with them, they will probably find it inspiring as well.  This can be especially powerful to friends who may have recently lost a job, gotten sick or just gone through a tough time.

Two books that I find very inspiring and I recommend to all of my peers are Gary Greenfield's Life's Ride or Fall...You Make the Call, and Donna Daisy's Why Wait? Be Happy Now!  Sharing inspirational books, quotes, stories or articles are all simple ways to thank someone.

If you've taken the time to read this post, then you owe it to yourself to take a second, take one of the simple action steps above and thank at least one person.  Remember, it's never too late to say "thank you." 

If you enjoyed this post, please say thanks by adding a comment below or by sharing this with your network.  You may also enjoy last week's post, "Thank You To My Peers: Bloggers, Nonprofit Consultants and Direct Mail Professionals."

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 in the comments section below for ideas to say thank you.

Thank You To My Peers: Bloggers, Nonprofit Consultants and Direct Mail Professionals

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In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to give thanks to a handful of people who have helped to make my 2010 a great year.  I have 2 reasons for this short post.  One is that perhaps you can benefit from meeting some of the people who helped to push my business forward over the course of the last year.  The second is that I hope this post will inspire you to reflect on people who have helped you either professionally or personally over the course of the last year.  If you feel inspired, please share your comments below, or if you're feeling more ambitious, perhaps you'll want to write your own Thanksgiving post.

Quality versus Quantity: I recently read a fantastic post titled “Being in Good Company” from the 
Escape Velocity Blog.  This post really made me see the importance of deepening some of the connections I made over the course of the last 2 years.  It's easy to measure how many followers you have on Twitter, how many Facebook Fans you have and how many connections you have on LinkedIn, but what are you really measuring? 

While it's certainly much harder to score or evaluate the quality of your relationships, there is where true value lies.  This is one of the points that become more apparent than ever to me in 2010, and ultimately, this is what inspired me to write this post.

Michelle Salater-Professional Blogger: As a contributor to the Bloggers' Bulletin, I first encountered Michelle Salater when she commented on one of my posts there.  This led me to investigate her blog.  Quite frankly as a blogger, I was blown away by quantity of exceptional content that I discovered on her blog.  We connected on Twitter and then exchanged blog posts. 

We quickly discovered that our services were complimentary which made it easy to refer business to one another.  We took it a step further and scheduled our first joint webinar on integrated marketing in August.  Then in September, Michelle travelled from Charleston, SC to Southwest Florida where we did two live presentations on the same topic.  Working together in a symbiotic relationship has allowed us to not only exchange referrals, but it's also enabled us to offer better advice to our existing customers.

Is there someone like this in one of your social networks already?  If so, take the time to reach out and strengthen the relationship.  Almost all of us are in "sales" to one degree or another and instead of focusing efforts on attracting new customers, it's often more beneficial to instead develop deeper relationships with peers who can refer multiple clients directly to you.

Nonprofit Community Peers:  Many of my posts are written for the benefit of the nonprofit community.  Developing and executing successful fundraising campaigns is perhaps the largest challenge facing all nonprofits today.  I've learned so much from peers like Lori Jacobwith & Pamela Grow. 

I've always admired the sound advice that Lori Jacobwith shared on her blog.  Lori was one of the 1st people that I started to follow when I joined Twitter almost 2 years ago.  Ultimately, we exchanged blog posts after getting to know each other.  I was so excited when Lori asked me to participate in one of her webinars earlier this year.  What a great way for me to get exposed to a new audience of interested people and offer them advice on a topic so critical to their success.

Pamela Grow is one of the most sincerely helpful people I've ever known.  I'm convinced that she helps others because she just genuinely enjoys doing it.  If you are a nonprofit professional, you really owe it to yourself to take a look a Pam's blog or follow her on Twitter.  I've not seen a better resource for grant writing than Pamela Grow.

For a more comprehensive list of nonprofit consultants, you may want to take a look at my recent post "My Definitive Short List of the best Nonprofit Blogs and Consultants."

Direct Mail Peers: Haven't we all experienced projects that didn't go as anticipated?  Recently, I worked on a new project for a client that didn't go as planned.  As I scratched my head trying to come up with a way to turn it around, I decided to reach out to a few of my peers with experience in the direct mail industry.  I was astounded with the prompt and detailed feedback that I received from friends and fellow bloggers Syl Wilson and Katie Kriemelmeyer.  Both willingly gave of their time and shared their professional expertise.  Their feedback enabled me to look at my challenges from a completely new angle and approach the problem with a new plan of attack.

Who do you have in your peer network that you can turn to when you're stuck?  If you already have peers like this, please be sure to take the time to thank them.  If you don't you owe it to yourself to develop stronger peer relationships with friends who can help. 

As the end of the year approaches and you finalize your resolutions for next year, focus on goals that enable you to broaden the relationships you already have instead of just increasing your contacts.  Nothing will have a greater impact on your bottom line than developing authentic relationships with peers who trust 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?

Who would you like to thank? Please share your comments below.

You Sell Luxury Products, But does Your Online Image Scream "Low Budget?"

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Guest Post by Michelle Salater

Do you offer luxury services to clients but can’t seem to attract and convert enough prospects? The root of the problem might lie in your ability to project an accurate brand message through web copy or website design.

When companies offer high-end services that are in line with the industry’s pricing norms but can’t get prospects to bite, there’s one of two things occurring. Either your services aren’t conducive to your high prices, or you’re losing prospects at the door—or in other words, you’re losing them through your marketing materials. More often than not, it’s the latter of the two.

If you want to project an accurate brand message and, in turn, convert prospects into paying customers, you must take your readers through an opulent experience on your website, blog, and other online marketing materials to give them a taste of what you have to offer.

For example, if you own a high-end travel company that offers clients exclusive VIP services and packages that almost no other travel agent in the world can offer, then you need to project this image. If your website is low budget, it’s going to reflect that you offer low-budget services.

With that said, consider the types of accommodations your clients stay in while on vacation. Imagine the interior of those accommodations and how they make visitors feel. This is how you want your prospects to feel when they visit your website or blog. When you’re able to convey to your site visitors, “This is what you could have and experience,” they’ll be more willing to make the effort to book with you or contact you.

The entire design of your website and blog should take visitors through an enriching experience where they feel as though they have just stepped into a place of sheer luxury. In order to accomplish this tone, your navigation, color scheme, layout, images, and web copy need to reflect an essence of lavishness. If even one of these elements isn’t reflective of your brand image, you run the risk of losing prospects at your virtual-store front door.

Below are a few aspects of online marketing materials that could either make or break your brand image, depending on how you use them:

Images: You can make a huge impression on your prospects through high-resolution, aesthetically pleasing photographs. If you put any image on your website that is less than perfect—whether the resolution is poor or the subject of the image is inaccurate to your brand image—you may convey to prospects that your services are less than perfect as well. If you’re not confident in your photography skills or camera and you want to ensure that you have the best photographs and graphics on your website or blog, get a professional photographer to take images for your site.

To the right is an image I found on a spa's website home page. The image does nothing to illustrate a luxurious spa experience and works to invoke the opposite feelings of luxury. When I think of a lavish spa experience I don't want to envision an "average Joe" receiving some sort of consultation in an office. I want to see an image that captivates me and inspires me to book a treatment at that spa.

Below is an image of a Spa company that used images correctly on their website in order to evoke a sense of opulence:

Web copy: Long paragraphs of web copy, strewn with run-on sentences and grammatical errors do not constitute luxury. When your website copy doesn’t flow properly and lacks sophistication in word choice and sentence formation, you’re not projecting a graceful or elegant image. Rather, you’re showing prospects that your services are unorganized, unsophisticated, and haphazard.

In order to avoid this situation, find a professional web copywriter who has the writing talent to take your brand message and accurately illustrate it in your web copy.

Navigation: Consumers who purchase from high-end companies expect to spend more and get more in return. They also expect to be treated with VIP status and respect. When your website or blog navigation resembles a confusing maze, your prospects feel as though you do not respect their time. Think of how many prospect conversions you could be losing due primarily to a lack of smooth navigation.

When website or blog visitors can’t navigate through your site easily, they will most likely get frustrated and move on to your competitors.

Color scheme: Hot pinks, purples, and black don’t reflect a sense of luxury. You may see those colors for a young and trendy club or bar but not for a luxury hotel, spa, travel company, or other company offering high-end services. Therefore, choose colors that evoke a sense of sophistication and opulence. Remember, your website and blog color schemes work to give your audience a sense of what kind of services you offer.

In the end, be honest with yourself. If you don’t have a programming, graphic design, copywriting, or photography background, you’ll need to put your brand image in the hands of the professionals. It might cost you a chunk of change, but the rewards, in the end, will be much greater.

Reprinted with permsisson of Michelle Salater

About Michelle Salater:

Michelle Salater is the president of Sūmèr, LLC, a company that specializes in web copy writing, SEO copywriting, and the promotion and marketing of websites after they launch. As an avid business blogger, Michelle has grown her marketing blog, Copy Doodle, to be a powerful lead generation and client education tool, and frequently guest blogs and lectures on blogging and online marketing. Also, she publishes a free, biweekly ezine packed full of free marketing tips for small business owners.

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.