tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29102224569463460712024-03-14T04:27:22.644-07:00Targeting Direct Mail ProgramsMarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-54159293704301052262017-10-04T05:37:00.000-07:002017-12-07T05:37:19.443-08:00Don't call us, we'll call you!I saw a promotion for the above titled webinar. I looked back at the direct marketing field and started thinking about what response looked like in the past. Thirty years ago people got a mailing for a product or service, (postal only by the way) and either went to the store to make their purchase OR, made a phone call if it was for a catalog. Then, email became a household method of communication. Although visiting a store and calling a call center continued to be key, people got used to seeing an email, clicking on the link and ordering their product or service.<br />
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Life got easier, more streamlined, but as with all new methods of marketing it too had its problems. People would load their cart, then abandon them. They would respond to an email, click through and discover that what they thought they wanted, wasn't really what they expected. Forms asked for too much information so people just left, or they found that there are many more interesting things to click on than fill out a form or order.<br />
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Fast forward to the current environment and phones are as complex as a home computer. Everything that used to require a printed catalog and call center are now in our hand, accessible 24/7. I believe we have become overwhelmed with information. Everyone wanting a part of our time, a piece of our life. To the point where people no longer want to give their information to companies without a compelling reason to do so. Why? They know that the followup inundation of mail, phone calls or email will be more than they wanted. Which, brings me to the title of this blog.<br />
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People have developed the attitude of "If I want what you're offering, I will call you". I admit, I do this a lot. I get more advertisements (mostly email) from list managers pushing their latest and greatest list. Are these valuable to me? Not really. It's just more junk to delete and not particularly relevant. There are two sources that list every direct marketing list on the market. SRDS and NextMark and primary search engines for direct mail/email/telemarketing lists. Why keep or respond to an email for a new, updated list, when I can type in a few keywords and get a complete list of all lists on the market? It turns out, I have been using the Don't call us, we'll call you approach for years! I just didn't realize it.<br />
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What else does this new attitude toward our marketing message mean? Tracking sales is more critical than ever. Where did an order come from? If you do an email campaign, get an order but not from on line, where did that customer get the information they needed to order or attend your school? I guarantee you that if you have been doing billboards, broadcast ads, direct mail and email campaigns you likely have NO idea where your leads are actually coming from.<br />
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I had a client who spent hundreds of dollars on inserts in coupon packets. I did an analysis (at their request) of performance, added a user code, tracked it for 3 months and discovered that what they thought was a fabulous lead generation tool, generated zero response. NO ONE used their coupons to call and attend their school. Instead, their direct mail program generated over 50,000 leads over a period of years. Enough for them to call and follow up to attract new students.<br />
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The key to all of these changes in customer response is to build a system to track where your customers are actually coming from. Ask them. If you're a school in Higher Education, go to your Adult Students and ask "What brought you to our school?" It's simple, Ask and you will find out so much about your prospects and how to reach them. BUT, remember they are likely calling YOU, not responding in a way that you expect or anticipate.<br />
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For a discussion regarding how you do your tracking, or to get a quote for an Adult Prospect campaign write me at David@marketmappingplus.com or call 616-956-7129.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-51666284136805102412017-09-26T06:44:00.000-07:002017-12-07T05:38:51.236-08:00How to deploy an E-mail campaign<div>
Anyone who is thinking about deploying an e-mail campaign needs to understand just how the process works and what to look out for. Basically, there are three ways of deploying a campaign. Using an existing database of prospects or customers you can design and deploy the campaign yourself. Second, you can rent an e-mail list and have the list owner manage and deploy your campaign based on your specific geographic and demographic needs. Third, you can purchase an e-mail list and do the blast yourself, however this is NEVER a recommended process. First, you have NO idea if the list your are buying is clean, up to date. Second, deploying it yourself you will find that you can easily get blacklisted by various companies who track spammers and your website will no longer be accessible to people, OR, you will be classified as a spammer and your mail simply goes into the spam/junk folder either never to be read again. I have sold two e-mail lists outright in my 20+ years in business and have ALWAYS regretted the results. The client isn't happy, I'm not happy, the message is lost with VERY high bounce rates. DO NOT EVER DO THE THIRD CHOICE!!!!!!!!! Enough said.</div>
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If you do choose to implement a direct mail campaign you need to follow a specific set of guidelines. These are in some cases suggestions, in other cases what is written is mandatory for you to follow to ensure quality design and layout of the final message.</div>
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Once you know how many names are in your blast and the cost of those names, you will need to provide the company doing the deployment the following information:</div>
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<li>Text of the subject line (Make it powerful, it's what gets people to open the e-mail)</li>
<li>HTML copy, formatted and ready to send (see the guidelines listed below)</li>
<li>Seed list (A list of 4 - 5 of your own people who will receive both the test and final mailing)</li>
<li>From e-mail address (This is to show who sent the mail and is a way for them to reply)</li>
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From here you need to consider the following guidelines for the design of your e-mail campaign.<br />
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Timing: Once we receive all of the above listed information it will take approximately 72 hours to deploy the campaign. Tests are set up for your approval and once your approval has been given, the campaign will be put on the schedule for deployment</div>
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Pricing: The cost of the list and deployment are included together. Included with the list and deployment cost is any post campaign reporting including opens, click through reports.</div>
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You can also do a creative split for an additional fee where you send one basic message to two different groups with different copy to each group, but deployed at the same time. </div>
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Your campaign can be personalized (if this is available) with first and/or last name.</div>
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We can suppress an existing e-mail list from your rented list to eliminate duplicates.</div>
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A sample Tracking Report may look as follows:</div>
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Date Name Sent Opens / Open % Click / Click%</div>
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8/6/09 Gen Univ 25000 4902 / 19.61% 624 / 2.496%</div>
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8/12/09 Gen Univ 25000 7661 / 30.64% 838 / 3.352%</div>
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Keep in mind, opens and click throughs are only half the story. You need to develop a method of capturing each click through by designing a custom "landing page" that asks them for name, address, phone and e-mail address. This way you have a method of following up with them and closing the sale. Make an offer that is strong, something to motivate them to want to give you their information. This can include registration fee waived, discount on books, discount on the first semester tuition or something equally as powerful.<br />
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For more information or to discuss how YOU can reach the Adult Student Prospects in your area write me at David@marketmappingplus.com or call 616-956-7129.</div>
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MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-64644784069011884262017-09-18T07:07:00.000-07:002017-12-07T05:41:32.318-08:00Baseball has 3 outs. How many outs does your email/landing page have?I am constantly being asked to review email creatives and landing pages for my clients. What surprises me is the number of clients who fail to understand what their ultimate goal is. Let's look at this from the end result to the beginning.<br />
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First, the goal of any campaign is new students. So, consider your landing page. What should it contain? A list of benefits! A matching message from the email that they got. A form for them to fill out to indicate interest. A phone number in case they want to call. That's it! NOTHING ELSE.<br />
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Why nothing else. The reason is simple, if you give them any other options such as links to Facebook, LinkedIn, your website, even a program related portion of your website they are gone. They leave your landing page, never fill out the information, you never hear from them again UNLESS they decide to contact you in some other way other than the landing page. I constantly see reports where people click through to the landing page and then disappear in to the outs that you gave them. Why give them ANY choice but to fill out the form, or call you? It's self defeating and it dooms any campaign to the failure category. This is a sample email I sent in 2014, Notice that even I didn't know the best practices back then. Now, there are key Call to Action (CTA's) through out the email and NO outs other than to the relevant landing page.<br />
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Next, let's move backwards to the email. You craft a perfect message, benefit laden for a prospective student to want to attend your school. The CTA button is below the fold. Will they find it? Very possibly not. Above the fold? Yes, they will click on it if they are motivated. BUT, included in your email are OUTS. Why would you give a prospect the option to leave your email and go anywhere other than your landing page? You need their information. You have peaked their interest. Yet, you let them get away to YouTube, Facebook, or anywhere else.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCB65QMqgrnGAsrfwGAOS59SFeL9jQ3pHsNXUFnMvzR8yAE9Hdl8a9-PV20wawQEZ7e1maeVXnwAW4_uIRnj_KLGlR9L7pVVyPi2MxotqKUuegCUwgFiK4pyB8Ex1MZAzl3Ou8DCeppGr/s1600/Outs_Blog_Visual_091417.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="764" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCB65QMqgrnGAsrfwGAOS59SFeL9jQ3pHsNXUFnMvzR8yAE9Hdl8a9-PV20wawQEZ7e1maeVXnwAW4_uIRnj_KLGlR9L7pVVyPi2MxotqKUuegCUwgFiK4pyB8Ex1MZAzl3Ou8DCeppGr/s320/Outs_Blog_Visual_091417.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014 Email with over 14 outs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepVMUQKd0d1i6zlnab8JmAL0tg3ZO-M-gNEjf2S0NyjIi4TVn5BqlrV5HYCoJSyV7EFzjyfnee5eoSzRxhp3LVqh2IMAOSA-WxIDZg93XBqN9vlkTAWKkvxlTjh86skOeTwBCIP4c8saM/s1600/Email_Sample_2017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="603" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepVMUQKd0d1i6zlnab8JmAL0tg3ZO-M-gNEjf2S0NyjIi4TVn5BqlrV5HYCoJSyV7EFzjyfnee5eoSzRxhp3LVqh2IMAOSA-WxIDZg93XBqN9vlkTAWKkvxlTjh86skOeTwBCIP4c8saM/s320/Email_Sample_2017.png" width="201" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2017 Email with zero outs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I recently had a client who had a landing page with 18 outs. And they wondered why no one clicked through. Well, they did, they clicked everywhere but to their landing page to fill out the form! Understand the purpose of your campaign and then design ALL elements to focus on that goal.<br />
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Outs are never good. They distract from the purpose of the campaign and offer the prospect a way to go places that you don't want them to go. As an example, say you want to show a video. Most people will put a link to the video, the prospect clicks on it and goes to YouTube. Guess what? You just lost them. They go there, see other opportunities to click on or think about that new video that's out from Beyonce and poof, they are no longer thinking education, but are instead being entertained. The solution? All videos should be put in a shadow box. Click on the link, it opens a box over the landing page or email, runs and then stops, closes and they are back to where they started, your email or landing page. No interruption in thought process and they AREN'T watching a music video!<br />
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Keep all of these thoughts in mind. Market Mapping plus Inc. has a special program to review or audit your email design and landing page design. This program costs $750 and we will look at emails that you send us and landing page links with the goal of maximizing your response. Contact me at David@marketmappingplus.com or call 616-956-7129 to get more information and let someone from outside your institution give you an honest appraisal of your email's and landing pages.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-77115987963075758522017-09-13T08:00:00.000-07:002017-12-07T05:42:56.710-08:00Are opens and clicks a true indicator of campaign success?Everyone focuses their attention on opens and clicks. Although they are interesting benchmarks I challenge you to to draw any conclusions regarding the success of a campaign based on these two numbers. Today's society is very different than in the past (big surprise, huh?). A client recently did a study thinking their email campaigns were failing, only to learn that people weren't clicking through but instead were calling the school directly, going to the website and filling out a form there, NOT the Landing Page. Plus, if I see one more landing page with more than one "out" I think I'll scream.<br />
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For those of you who don't know, any link in an email that takes you to anyplace other than the Landing Page designed for the campaign is a way for someone to NOT fill out a form or contact the school. Or, they are simply calling the school directly and you have no idea where the prospect came from. So, the $64,000 question, are you checking to see where your prospects and students are coming from?<br />
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Here is my suggestion. Make a survey, three questions. And send it to all of the non-traditional students who have enrolled in the past six or twelve months. Something like this:<br />
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<i>We are attempting to fine tune our marketing efforts and would like to ask you two simple questions.</i><br />
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<i>How did you first hear about XYZ University?</i><br />
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<ol>
<li><i>Family/friends</i></li>
<li><i>Billboard</i></li>
<li><i>Email from our University</i></li>
<li><i>Radio Ad</i></li>
<li><i>Television Ad</i></li>
<li><i>Postcard </i></li>
</ol>
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<i>If you received an email from us did it cause you to contact us directly without using any links?</i><br />
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<ol>
<li><i>yes</i></li>
<li><i>no</i></li>
</ol>
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<i>If you did click through did you fill out the form, or contact us directly?</i><br />
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<ol>
<li><i>yes</i></li>
<li><i>no</i></li>
</ol>
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What you may discover is that links and forms are no longer the way people complete a transaction. People are seeing the email/postcard, get motivated to contact you and pick up the form, or go to the website to find a program they are interested in and then register.<br />
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A recent client noticed a drop in clicks, yet they saw an increase in website visits. This perplexed them, and they decided to check by doing a survey like the one I have listed. It turns out that the majority of their new students got an email, never clicked through and just called to make an appointment and then registered. Are YOU checking to see how your emails perform? In reality they got more response from their email campaign than they anticipated, they just weren't clicks.<br />
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Don't jump to conclusions that a given campaign is a failure. You may be missing the boat by not finding out how your real students are contacting you.<br />
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For more information, or to get a quote for your next campaign write David@marketmappingplus.com or call 616-956-7129.<br />
<br />MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-64851248528490487702017-08-23T08:28:00.000-07:002017-12-07T05:44:30.786-08:00Innovation in direct marketing list acquisition<div class="MsoNormal">
Innovation in Direct Marketing comes slow. MMP List
Management Inc. is on the cutting edge of innovation by dealing with multiple
issues that affect direct marketers. What is it that companies want?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Deliverable postal addresses.</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Customers who WANT to hear from you.</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Emails that don’t bounce.</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Phones that actually connect.</span></li>
</ul>
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So, what is the solution? MMP List Management Inc. has
solved all of these issues. Instead of updating our files every quarter or
every month, we update our files when ordered! We survey our database of over
140 million consumers asking if they are interested in hearing from your
company….Your products or services. Those who say yes, get added to your
prospect database. The results?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Prospects who WANT to hear from you.</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Postal addresses are up to date and deliverable.</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Emails with less than 5% hard bounce rates.</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Phone that are current, cleaned through the Do
Not Call system and will connect.</span></li>
</ul>
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PLUS! You can take delivery of postal, email and phones to
contact on your own. While under license, your prospect list will be updated monthly,
allowing your file to stay fresh, deliverable and up to date.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Join an Innovative Company and let us give you a quote for
our prospect mailing lists. We offer a Customer Satisfaction Policy that
guarantees email delivery exceeding 95%. Don’t rely on surveys that were done a
month ago, six months ago and are generic in nature. Get a prospect list that
contains people who WANT to hear from YOU!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Call David Fant, President 616-914-0537, or write <a href="mailto:David@mmplistmanagement.com">David@mmplistmanagement.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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A new approach to target marketing. Be on the cutting edge
of targeting. Call us today.<o:p></o:p></div>
MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-58877755765160161502010-07-22T07:51:00.000-07:002017-12-07T05:45:30.119-08:00Ideas from a Graduate Admissions Marketing ConferenceI recently attended the Stamats Graduate Admissions Marketing Conference as one of their Corporate Sponsors. This was an enlightening conference that was filled with tips, techniques and ideas for targeting, reaching and communicating with graduate program prospects. Some of the most important ideas that I heard revolved around Web Analytics and the need for better, consistent tracking of your website, e-mails and social media.<br />
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HiPPO's - What are they and how do you deal with them?<br />
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One of the first items that struck me was the term HiPPO. NO, not a African animal, but a HiPPO is defined as the Highest Paid Person's Opinion. What this means is that when putting marketing plans together, the HiPPO will wield their power, not from knowledge but from their position of power. Whether it be the President, a Board member, a Dean, all of these people will influence your marketing decisions based on their perceptions, not based on fact. The most effective way to deflect a HiPPO is to develop quality analytics. Facts ALWAYS will take the power away from any detractor or power pusher since your facts trump anyone's opinion.<br />
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Hits - No, not the Soprano's or Elton John<br />
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This was an interesting topic. We always hear about how many "hits" your website has. Yet, most of us don't realize just what a "hit" is. Basically, if you have a home page with 14 graphics and text in it, when a visitor arrives, each picture will download. Suddenly you have 14 hits, yet, only one visitor. If 5 people visit you will then have 70 "hits". Not exactly what you wanted to know. You think your doing great, but, only had, in reality 5 visitors.<br />
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When tracking website performance look at VISITORS, not hits. How many visitors did you have, how long did they stay on your website? What pages did they navigate to or did they abandon the site immediately. These are the telling statistics that you need to understand in order to build a case against your resident HiPPO's.<br />
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Lifetime Value of a Student<br />
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This was an interesting topic. I have used Lifetime Value of a Customer for many years with my retail and non-profit clients. Whenever I attempted to apply this idea to higher education I arrived at the conclusion that the lifetime value was while they are in school. Once they graduate, there is no value to a student. Boy, was I wrong! In reality while your student is attending your school, they have a great deal of value. But on graduation, that value changes from active student to Alumni. They join as an alumni, contribute to annual campaigns (I do this myself to the University of Minnesota), they create bequests and corporate giving programs. All events that can be quantified, evaluated and used to determine the true lifetime value of a student.<br />
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Google Analytics<br />
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There is nothing more powerful than being able to see results as they happen on the web. You send out an e-mail campaign, you will see a jump in web results. Send out Direct Mail, see a spike in visitors. You will see where people are coming from, or where they are going. You can determine if people are spending time on your website, only to abandon it when something isn't there or doesn't work. We have a local Community College with many broken links. My wife has been looking into this school, yet, whenever she tries to find more information she tends to find a broken link. Analytics can help you identify these problems but they require you to actively look at what is going on with your site.<br />
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Remember, knowledge is power. The more facts you can bring to the table, the more effective you will be in deflecting your HiPPO's and that Dean who feels his course with 5 students should be on the home page. Google Analytics has become easier to use, and much more effective in what it tracks. Take a few minutes to learn how to make it work. I know I will be doing that for MY firm.<br />
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I have other thoughts and they will follow shortly. These are some of the key ideas that I observed over the 2 day conference. If you have any questions or need any information about how Market Mapping plus can help you effectively reach YOUR target audience, just let me know.<br />
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Write me at David@marketmappingplus.com, or call 616-956-7129.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-77382697443291159322010-06-02T05:36:00.001-07:002017-12-07T05:46:46.993-08:00Working a tradeshow when you are a company of one.Working a Trade Show by yourself<br />
Exhibiting at a trade show can be a huge investment for your company, or a complete waste of money and time. And, for a company of one, working a trade show is tricky at best. Long hours, the feeling that you can't "leave the booth" even for a second to eat, go to the bathroom or even wander around to see what other exhibitors are doing makes for many conflicts in most exhibitor's minds.<br />
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If you have people working the booth with you, you know your booth is always manned and ready. Alone, if you're not in the booth, you will always wonder if you are "missing" the most important contact of the show. So, how do you handle exhibiting at a trade show and working the booth by yourself?<br />
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I recently sponsored a conference on Adult Education. There are trade shows for Admissions all the time, but most focus on the Admissions Counselor, NOT the Directors, Vice Presidents and Marketing staff at a school. This show was recommended to me by a client, her one sales point was "these are the decision makers who are attending, people who do what I do". The most important thing to remember is pick a show that focuses on those attendees that actually BUY your products and services.<br />
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Make sure that you create a display that focuses on what the audience wants. There is nothing worse than setting up a display, putting items on the display that features ALL of your products or services, only to have people walk by because they think you don't have what they want/need. Make sure that 100% of your display focuses on what THEY want to buy, not what YOU want to sell.<br />
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Giving away free items are just that, give a ways. They are an expense item plain and simple. When was the last time you took a stress relief ball from a conference and actually used it? A pen? Of course we take pens, but, do we ever look to see where it came from until it runs out of ink? Giving away items doesn't serve any real purpose other than to give away your hard earned money. You would be better off giving everyone a quarter if they stop by, certainly more memorable!<br />
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So, all of that said, how do you go about working a trade show by yourself?<br />
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First, look at the schedule and ALWAYS be at the booth during breaks, between meetings and during exhibitor time. NEVER miss these times since that is when the most traffic will be walking through the aisles.<br />
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Second, don't sit in a chair, in the back of the booth or anywhere that makes you look inaccessible. Always stand out front, engaging people as they walk by, glancing at name tags and looking for anything that may help you determine if they are a good prospect or not.<br />
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Third, have more business cards than you think you will ever use. If for some reason, you forget your cards, (and yes, it has happened to me) have someone, express mail them to you or deliver them to you. This is your lifeblood and only required handout you really need.<br />
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Fourth, meet your booth mates. People on either side of your booth or across the aisle. They may pitch in if you have to run out for any reason. Explain to them about your company and a small amount of information about what you do. That way, if they see someone stop by your booth and you're not there, they can suggest that the person return in 10 minutes and they can suggest that the attendee take a business card. Anything that shows the attendee that you planned to be away and took steps to cover your absence in even a small way will help.<br />
Finally, eating can be difficult. I know that eating in a booth is typically forbidden. But to be honest, if I need to eat, and it's a choice between being in my booth where I can talk to prospects who wander by, or head out to get a meal, I will ALWAYS eat in my booth. Place the food discretely behind the display, and only eat when there are no prospects in your area. Make sure if someone comes in while you're eating, you put away the food immediately and attend to their needs.<br />
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As for success? My last trade show I attended earned me 10 new clients, paid for itself in total with the first four orders and was wildly successful.<br />
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Working a tradeshow is not easy when you're by yourself, but it can be done, and quite successfully!<br />
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This article was published in the Spring issue of Focus on Small Business published by the Small Business Association of Michigan.<br />
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For more information regarding effective campaign development for postal or email campaigns, write David@marketmappingplus.com, or call 616-956-7129.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-12088512107866013822010-02-16T09:40:00.000-08:002017-12-07T11:14:37.709-08:00Why use direct mail in an age of electronic communication?I get this question frequently from clients. Why print, pay postage and a mailing list when I can get an e-mail list or join a social networking site and reach people less expensively? The reality of life is, unless you have a strong brand, or name that is easily recognized, new forms of marketing (e-mail, social networking, twitter) are difficult to use until you reach an effective "economy of scale" with your lists. You still need to find a way to drive people to your website, read your tweets, or go to your social networking site and that method is typically direct mail.<br />
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Why you may be asking use direct mail? In reality direct mail is the most effective method of reaching a highly targeted audience with a highly targeted message. Let's look at the facts.<br />
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In the past, we used to do saturation mailings at relatively low cost. You sent your message to everyone to get the lowest postage possible, and hoping that at least a few of the people you mailed may be interested in what you were selling.<br />
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Today, saturation mailing is typically wasted mail. Postage costs have increased to a point where it's no longer cost effective to mail everyone. That fact coupled with the increase of data that is directly related to lifestyle interests, you will find that you can focus your message to a much smaller market segment and lower your costs, while at the same time, increasing response rates.<br />
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Here is how to view direct mail.<br />
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The Mail Piece<br />
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This is the key element to direct mail. They get something they can hold, review, put on the refrigerator and keep if they like. It can contain a call to action either driving them to your website, to become a fan of your social networking or listen to your tweets. Remember, there is no delete button for direct mail. Even mail that has been thrown away can be retrieved if you havn't taken out the trash yet. Typically once you hit delete it's gone.<br />
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The List<br />
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This is the most important part of the use of direct mail. The ability to HIGHLY TARGET your message to people who are MOST interested in what you are selling. Say for example, you are a sporting good store and want to focus on spring water related products that you sell. Let's also say you have a market area that serves Kent County Michigan. What is the true effect of targeting?<br />
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We can evaluate your products and determine that people who are into watersports are a key market segment, also, families with children, people who are into boating/swiming and water skiing are also key market segments. So let's see what the effect of targeting can be:<br />
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All available households 207,963<br />
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Add income $30,000+ 131,466<br />
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Add Water Sports interest 66,022<br />
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Add Grand Children 3,565<br />
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As you can see, narrowing your focus helps you weed out those people who are not interested in what you are selling. You could also narrow the focus using age, tighten income a bit and children present in the home. The number of ways to slice and dice your market are endless. And, with each drop in quantity, your printing/postage and list rental costs will go down.<br />
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You can measure your response.<br />
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Yes, I know, click throughs measure just that, click throughs. Was it a mistake that they clicked? An automated click? They meant to delete but clicked through? You have no idea. With direct mail, if keycoded properly (and EVERYONE should keycode their mail pieces and offers) you can track not only who is redeeming your mailing, but WHO is responding. A keycode should track each demographic segment used to generate the list. That way, you can see if one segment is responding in greater numbers than another. For example, say you selected age, income and children present in the home. A code of BD3 could represent an age range of 25 - 34, income of $30,000 - $39,999 and 3 children present in the home. This is VALUABLE information for you to use in further refining future campaigns. Direct mail can help you evaluate an offer or offers. For example, you mail 3000 postcards, one with one set of copy and offers on the card, the other with a different offer. Track response by market segment and see which responds best! Future campaigns will become more effective with that type of testing. Remember, direct mail is like real estate. In real estate it's location, location, location. Direct mail's mantra is test test test.<br />
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Personalized<br />
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Sure you can personalize your e-mail. If I had a dime for every e-mail I get addressed to Sheila, Bob, Mary or some other name I'd be rich today. Direct mail lists are accurate. They are updated (or should be updated) on a regular basis. Personalization can be the head of household, spouse or some other name depending on where the list is coming from. A personalized message (used along with variable printing) can be a VERY effective way of targeting and getting the message across. Everyone likes to be acknowledged and by using a name, you are creating a tie with your company that says "I know who you are!"<br />
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Remember, direct mail is not dead. You simply have to become more effective in how you use direct mail. Use direct mail to build your e-mail database, drive people to your website and to send your offer to people who actually WANT to purchase what you have to sell.<br />
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If you have more questions or would like to discuss a recruitment campaign for your school write me an email at david@marketmappingplus.com, or call 616-956-7129.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-33566922871567904762010-02-09T09:55:00.000-08:002017-12-08T07:51:21.176-08:00Using Multiple Lists to Improve ResponseI was looking through some past orders and came across a client in Detroit who I felt best understood exactly what it meant to use multiple lists to develop an effective direct mail campaign. In a nutshell, what this means is rather than using only one, or two lists, a business or non-profit should look at their prospects from different perspectives. Here is how it works.<br />
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You are planning on purchasing 50,000 prospect names for a mailing. Rather than purchasing one list with 50,000 names, purchase 5 lists with 10,000 names each, or 10 lists at 5,000 names. When it comes time to pull all of these lists together there should, of course, be the same name in different places. For example, if you're a sporting goods store, and purchase a list of golfers who responded to a survey and golfers who subscribe to Golf Digest magazine, you may find the same name on both lists. Typically, businesses don't think about this, and throw the duplicates away. However, these duplicate names are 1000% more valuable to you than the master list. WHY? A multi-hit file identifies those people who have a stronger interest in a topic or area than most others. If you appear on 4 related golfing publications, you MUST be an avid golfer.<br />
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So, the question then becomes what to do with the multi-hit file? Basically these are names you have purchased and have the right to use. If a name appears on 3 lists, you can mail them up to three times if you like with no penalty from the list owner.<br />
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Next, key code EVERYTHING!!!!!!!! This way, when people respond, ask for the code on the mailer, or have them bring it into your store and track who is responding. You will find that in many cases one list will draw a higher response and have a higher ROI (Return on Investment) than another list. Track this information, and when purchasing new lists, use those lists with a higher response rate first and at a higher quantity than last time. You will find that your response rates will increase and your ROI will go up as well.<br />
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Finally, evaluate what you're offering them. If you are promoting a $10 item on average, did you know you can likely increase your gross sales by 50% by increasing the average item cost to $15? People respond to what you ask them to. Don't be a scrooge when trying to attract and sell new prospects on your businesses products or services.<br />
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In a nutshell this is how it works.<br />
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<li>Purchase multiple lists</li>
<li>Merge/Purge these lists against each other</li>
<li>Create a "multi-hit file" to capture duplicates between files</li>
<li>Mail the master lists using a key code to track list source</li>
<li>Mail the multi-hits and compare response rates with the original mailing</li>
<li>Future mailing quantities should be adjusted based on which of the multiple lists performed best and which one's under performed. </li>
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Market Mapping plus LLC can help set up a program to track performance and teach you how to effectively increase response rates and your Return On Investment for your direct mail program.<br />
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If you need to learn more about tracking response and learning which source is most effective in generating leads give David a call at 616-956-7129 or write me at david@marketmappingplus.com.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-89165069160477785492010-01-14T09:01:00.000-08:002017-12-08T08:08:49.253-08:00Increasing response using the 40-40-20 ruleIn days gone by, businesses sent out a direct mail piece to everyone in their area. It was called a saturation mailing and is still done today in some circumstances. The problem is, a saturation mailing is just that. EVERYONE in your area with no regard to their actual interest or <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ability</span> to buy what you are selling are sent your direct mail offer. In those days a 1 - 2 % response rate was expected and most of the time and effort in putting the mailing together was focused on the direct mail piece itself.<br />
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Well, times have changed. Typical response rates have dropped to .1 to .3% for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">untargeted</span> direct mail. The increase in direct mail competition is high as you can see in your mailbox each day. So, with costs going up and response rates going down, what can you do to become more effective in your direct mail program? Like in real estate, direct mail has two key mantra's...FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS and TEST TEST TEST. What do these mean?<br />
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Basically, Focus centers on the shift from a design mentality (what it looks like) to an offer being sent to the RIGHT market segment. This is where the 40-40-20 rule comes in. You need to focus your attention on the following items:<br />
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40% of your time and effort should center on the offer, or what you are asking your prospective customer to do.<br />
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40% of your time and effort should center on the list, or who you are inviting to purchase from you.<br />
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20% of your time and effort should be spent on the design. What it looks like is much less important today than it was years ago simply because people look at the offer and who sent it rather than what it looks like.<br />
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As an example, I recently got a mailing to invest in a high dollar gold investment. The letter specifically states "...being a part of this exclusive high income group...." to which I asked myself...<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">hmmmm</span>, what high income? This firm purchased a list without really focusing on who they are sending it to and if the person actually meets the criterion they are looking for. Maybe the company was wrong in their selection criterion or maybe their list broker made the mistake. Regardless of the error, I should NEVER have gotten this letter. I don't remotely qualify for anything they are selling. Another direct mail piece in the trash! Wasted postage, printing and list costs.<br />
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What should you do then to become more effective?<br />
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First, look at what you're selling from your customer's perspective. In a retail world, ask where customers are from (<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">zip code</span> maybe?). Look them over. Are they older? younger? Affluent looking? There are keys you can see with customers that will help you better identify who you need to find. The list is important and even the kind of store you are will dictate who you want to reach. If you're selling wood working tools, you need someone into home improvements/wood working...not a woman into clothing. Define WHO you want to reach, who is your best customer and then find a list that matches that specific demographic.<br />
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Second, create a compelling offer. The use of Free, Save, Limited Time Offer, are just a few that have been effective in the past. The offer should identify why your prospect wants or needs what your selling. Copy should strike an emotional chord in their mind since an emotional image can be very powerful. Focus on the benefits of buying from you, versus your competitors. Finally and this is the most important point, remember, you need to be compelling to get them to buy!<br />
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Third, the design. Yes, I am not telling you that a quality graphic designer is unnecessary, or that you should send out a boring text only mail piece. But, make sure that what you are mailing looks attractive to who you are sending it to, AND that it incorporates some key elements. Those elements are:<br />
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<li><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Keycode</span> area to effectively track who is receiving the mailing so when they use the mailing to buy, you know EXACTLY what group of people or list this came from.</li>
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<li>Include images/copy that either addresses their interest in your product/services OR reflects past purchases that they have made with your company. Variable data printing was another of my blogs and can help you better understand the effectiveness of this technique.</li>
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<li>Don't overwhelm the prospect with too much information. Pick one or two items that they may be interested in, and sell those. If you have a sale going on, focus on a few items that they may want and have them bring the coupon in with them for the discount.</li>
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ALWAYS have a call to action! Come in today to receive your discount. Limited quantity available. Limited time offer. Those are a few ways of getting people to respond in a timely manner.<br />
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Finally, direct mail, as with all advertising media is not an end all and be all for advertising. It can be highly personalized, targeted and can put YOUR company's products and services in front of a key prospect who is looking or interested in what you are selling. More is less in this day and age. The time when you sent out 5000 direct mail pieces and made money are over Today less is more. Send 500 to KEY prospects and if done correctly you will find your response rates are up, expense is down and your <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">break even</span> point is more easily reached! Once you have them as a customer, the lifetime value of a customer comes into effect, which...is another blog!<br />
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If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact me at <a href="mailto:David@marketmappingplus.com">David@marketmappingplus.com</a> or visit our website at <a href="http://www.marketmappingplus.com/">http://www.marketmappingplus.com/</a>MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-26435966907336170402009-12-07T09:05:00.000-08:002009-12-10T08:31:54.052-08:00Enhance Response with Variable Data PrintingSo many direct mail pieces today are still addressed "Resident" or "Our friend at" showing that the sender has NO idea who they are mailing to, nor do they apparently care. Cost/piece is their only criterion and that cost/piece mentality will kill them ultimately. About once a month I get a direct mail piece from a window replacement company offering to provide a quote on replacing my windows. Since I live in an apartment (a complex with 700+ units) imagine the cost of this mailing and all of the recipients who are not remotely qualified to begin with. If they are mailing to just my zip code they are wasting over 47% of their mailing on UNQUALIFIED PROSPECTS! If we look at our local Sectional Center they would be throwing away 28% of their total mailing costs.<br /><br /><br />As I'm writing this, I just got a recorded telemarketing call from a mortgage refinance company offering to take advantage of low rates today in refinancing my home mortgage. As an apartment renter, it's a waste of my time, their time and money and it takes me away from running my business. Yes, I opted out. But why did I get this call in the first place?<br /><br /><br />Back to the purpose of this blog. The advent of Variable Data Printing has ushered in a new era in direct marketing. The days of sending everyone the same thing has changed, and you now have the capability of importing and using key, variable data for each UNIQUE prospect or customer. Imagine receiving an e-mail with the following:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Resident<br />1223 Main St<br />Any City MI 12345<br /><br /><br /><br />with static copy and photos on the mailing.<br /><br /><br /><br />NOW, imagine this image:<br /><br /><br /><br />David Fant<br />1223 Main St<br />Any City MI 12345<br /><br /><br /><br />My name on a billboard stating "David, your new car is waiting" then in the photos is a photo of the last car I purchased, and similar style/types of cars that are on sale, either new or used!<br /><br /><br /><br />Which image has the greatest impact? Certainly the second one will get my attention quickly and appeals to my past purchasing pattern and interest. Even if this is a prospect mailing, behavior/interest information is available to append to prospect data to allow you to feature items that meet your prospect's interests. For example, consider a resort that has a spa, golf course, hiking trails, gourmet restaurants, exercise equipment and a swimming pool. If you purchase a prospect list that includes people who enjoy hiking and gourmet food, those should be the images on the mailer. If the prospect is into golfing, focus on that for the images/copy.<br /><br /><br /><br />Office Technology Magazine did a recent survey of users of VDP and discovered the following facts:<br /><br /><br />Response rate was up 36%<br />Average order size was up 25%<br />Repeat orders were up 47%<br />Overall Revenue Profit was up 31%<br /><br /><br />These increases were based on a comparison between non-VDP mailers and using VDP for the mailing.<br /><br /><br />VDP CAN work. It requires a lot of thought, preparation and planning, but the results are WELL worth the effort. Market Mapping plus LLC can help you build an effective VDP campaign and help you track the results. Contact us today for more information.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-8909170699852575442009-12-04T06:42:00.000-08:002009-12-04T07:32:18.405-08:00Why Direct Mail WORKSEvery day I read news reports/articles that revolve around the demise of direct mail and the transfer of advertising/marketing dollars to the web, social networking and other new, recently available media for reaching customers. The problem is that this idea has been around for over 100 years. Back in the early 1900's with the advent of AM Radio, people proposed the demise of newspapers and magazines. FM Radio was the deathknell for AM Radio. Television was going to destroy radio as an entire industry. Cable was the end of broadcast television and the internet will be the end of cable television.<br /><br />As you might have noticed, not one of the media that I mentioned has disappeared. In over 100 years industries have worked hard to reinvent themselves and provide a valuable service to their ever changing audience. However, one way direct mail has always fit into the mix is that it can integrate with any advertising media to reinforce and enhance the impact of your message.<br /><br />Direct mail:<br /><br />1) Is personalized so the person receiving the message can see the message is intended for them.<br />2) Is HIGHLY targeted. You can pick not only demographics, but lifestyle variables<br />3) Can be kept for future reference/use.<br />4) Can include a referral to the web, a coupon or call to action.<br />5) Is highly trackable which allows you to focus your message and refine your audience.<br /><br />Many companies from Lands End to The Wall Street Journal to Columbia Records have all worked to integrate all forms of media into their advertising campaigns. The net effect of doing an e-mail blast followed by a direct mail piece, or a direct mail piece followed by an e-mail blast is to lift response, in many cases significantly. A recent presentation from the head of marketing at Lands End indicated that in a side by side test where they compared JUST e-mail, JUST direct mail and a combined campaign, the combined campaign lifted response AND SALES over 60%.<br /><br />Wouldn't we all like to lift sales 60%?<br /><br />Create direct mail that is targeted, with copy that is designed for the recipient, that is coded to track response and you will see that direct mail is NOT dead. It's becoming the medium of choice to drive people to the web. The medium of choice to track response. And the best supporting vehicle for your advertising campaign.<br /><br />For more information on building and tracking effective INTEGRATED advertising campaigns, contact Market Mapping plus LLC and we can help guide you though the process and get you to increase sales through combined marketing techniques.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2910222456946346071.post-65554682059387520852009-12-02T05:59:00.000-08:002009-12-02T18:39:38.304-08:00Customer profiling doesn't need to be expensive.Today, markets are getting segmented over and over again. What used to work for direct mail or other advertising media have now fractured into ever smaller pieces of the pie. As an example, in the past, if you wanted a cooking show on a broadcast media you could sponsor a show on PBS or possibly one or two shows on commercial TV. Today, you can do broadcast <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">tv</span>, cable <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">tv</span> (multiple channels), the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">internet</span> will provide instant information on cooking and cooking products.<br /><br />The issue becomes more complicated when selecting where to advertise or market your products and services. Creating a custom profile can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 or more. Each profile will help you focus your message which means you can be more selective in where you advertise. More <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">selectivity</span> means higher response rates. Higher response rates will translate into higher sales and higher quality prospect contacts.<br /><br />The process of creating a custom profile is simple. Taking a sample of your customer list (minimum of 2,000 names/addresses needed no older than 2 years old) demographic data will be appended to each record. If you have social media or advertising media information (how they become a customer in the first place that's an added plus). From here, household specific data will be appended and analyzed based on your specific market. You NEVER want a profile completed using a a larger market area than you actually draw from. (For example, some profiles are compared to nationwide figures.) This skews your profile and will NOT allow you to take into account local market demographic trends.<br /><br />From here, Market Mapping plus <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">LLC</span> can do the analysis and provide a complete written report on who is purchasing your products and services, where they are located and where to find new customers in your area. An investment of $6,000 may seem high. But, over the course of a year you can save this in wasted advertising dollars going to a market segment that will never enter your store.<br /><br />Contact us today to learn how a Custom Profile can help YOU reach your intended marketing goals.MarketMappingplushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763193462385118002noreply@blogger.com0