An entrepreneurial cliché is to start with what you have. This of course drives home the fundamental principle that you have to start somewhere to get somewhere. Although this might instill inspiration and the motivation needed to get up off the proverbial couch and get something done, when translating that to direct marketing, starting with what you have is not always the best choice.
Take, for example, the following case:
A business owner has products and services very beneficial to real estate agents. MediaDyme worked with the client to create a comprehensive direct marketing campaign that was targeted specifically at prospects identified through real estate shows, events and other conferences. The campaign yielded a great response and great business and was successfully reproduced with variations using combinations of email, print, and SMS with predictable and repeatable results.
When the marketing message is personal and relevant to the target market, and provided in the right channel (email, SMS, or print, etc.), the return on investment for direct marketing is overwhelmingly positive.
Based on the success of existing products and responses, the same business owner launched a new product that was more generic and which appealed to a different group of people—job seekers. Although the new product was designed for a different market, he initiated a comprehensive direct marketing campaign using the same techniques and base product principles that appealed to the real estate agents. This campaign was then sent to the same list of recipients as his previously successful campaign—real estate agents. As you can imagine, the results were not as stunning as prior experiences. The business owner was left scratching his head and grew frustrated with the direct marketing effort. When asked why he had targeted the real estate leads with the new, more generic product, his answer was, “It is all I have.”
This exemplifies a clear misalignment with one of the two most important factors of effective direct marketing: relevance. If starting with what you have is not relevant to the prospect, then starting with what you have is a bad option and alternatives should be sought to generate recipients that are more relevant. This seems like common sense, but you would be surprised how many companies cast a much wider net than what is good for them in hopes of getting a nibble.
You don’t need to abandon “what you have” in order to pursue alternatives, but a different message and call to action is needed to make your message as relevant as possible. For example, generate awareness and potential viral leads by asking your more non-relevant list for unbiased feedback and offer compensation or discounts if they pass it along to others they think are interested. This is not an original idea by any stretch of the imagination, but it is effective nonetheless.
The core message here is: remember to apply the basic principles of marketing by considering the relevance of your offer to your target market and engage as many direct marketing channels as necessary to reach and converse.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday, May 8, 2009
Cross Channel Direct Marketing Example
We just finished the first two parts of a five part series of webinars. Thus far the topics are resonating with a large audience. It seems that reinforcing the basics is not a bad thing. Then it occurred to me that most business owners, marketers, or entrepreneurs never get a chance to master the basics for they are required to dive deep into all of the of the other issues that need to be tackled for a successful business. I am here to tell you that the basics are what will enable more effort to be directed in the most effective places.
Take for example, recently we provided the tools to for a MediaDyme customer to send out rate or mortgage changes via text messaging for real time alerts. The question was asked, what other media channels you will use to get recipients engaged beyond the alert… email, print, etc. The question seemed to be a surprise. Maybe the excitement of using mobile marketing distracted them from adhering to a multi-faceted direct marketing campaign and engaging all of the media channels needed to accomplish it.
The moral, don’t get caught up in the technology just because it’s cool. An effective direct marketing campaign requires planning, testing, and management. This will inevitably invoke the use of multiple types of media channels to get the job done. Each will have its purpose and shelf-life as part of the cumulative customer/prospect experience. MediaDyme continues to hold webinars on a variety of topics related to integrated direct marketing campaigns. Check out the material on the ones we have done already. They are posted on the website. www.mediadyme.com/webinars.html
Take for example, recently we provided the tools to for a MediaDyme customer to send out rate or mortgage changes via text messaging for real time alerts. The question was asked, what other media channels you will use to get recipients engaged beyond the alert… email, print, etc. The question seemed to be a surprise. Maybe the excitement of using mobile marketing distracted them from adhering to a multi-faceted direct marketing campaign and engaging all of the media channels needed to accomplish it.
The moral, don’t get caught up in the technology just because it’s cool. An effective direct marketing campaign requires planning, testing, and management. This will inevitably invoke the use of multiple types of media channels to get the job done. Each will have its purpose and shelf-life as part of the cumulative customer/prospect experience. MediaDyme continues to hold webinars on a variety of topics related to integrated direct marketing campaigns. Check out the material on the ones we have done already. They are posted on the website. www.mediadyme.com/webinars.html
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Change the Rules on Direct Marketing Responses
When it comes to direct marketing there is clearly a distinction between approaches to how you spend your marketing dollar and the return you expect to obtain. Few have the budget to follow multiple paths. I am talking about Reach or Frequency. Both are wonderful examples of the Law of Averages and depending on the path you choose (Reach or Frequency) will determine the expected return based on the Law of Averages. I say change the rules by deploying some cross-channel marketing campaigns that create a new bell curve on expected returns on the direct marketing dollar. Let me explain…
The Law of Averages is defined as a law affirming that in the long run probabilities will determine performance; the statistical tendency toward a fixed proportion in the results when an experiment is repeated a large number of times; the law of large numbers. So let’s see how this works between the two approaches.
A “Reach” approach means to target a larger audience with less frequent marketing messages. The law of averages says that the probability of the recipient wanting to rid themselves of the problem that you can solve at the time they receive your marketing message decreases rapidly the fewer the messages you send. Many companies use the reach method. For example, a typical reach campaign may broadcast out 10,000 messages in the hopes that some have that perfect timing. In the direct mail world, that perfect timing yields a response rate from 1.5 to 3% at best. 10,000 mailings at $0.35/piece is $3,500. With a response rate of 2% (200 responses) equates to a cost per response of $17.50.
The “Frequency” approach proves for better returns based on the same Law of Averages. Send more frequent, more relevant, more personalized marketing messages to a smaller recipient list. Instead of 10,000, send 1,000 personalized messages once a month for 6 months combined with a Personal URL (vip.ABCCompany.com/JohnTarget). 6,000 combined messages at $1.00/piece costs $6,000. More relevance, more personalization, along with better call to action tools such as PURL’s, generates response rates that range from 6% to 10%. If using 6% as a response rate for the life of the campaign, this translates to a 50% increase in conversion opportunities (200 to 360) and a 5% reduction in the cost per response ($17.50 to $16.67). Personalization makes the per piece cost more expensive but the higher response rate results in a lower cost per response and substantially more opportunities to convert the response to an actual sell.
Now here comes the game changer. Combine the frequency approach with targeted personalized emails and follow on SMS (text messages) as part of the same campaign and move the response rate and the conversion rate needles to the outer edges of the bell curve. Only cross-channel marketing campaigns allow you to achieve this. It is possible without creating a labor intensive wrinkle generator. Use a cross-channel campaign provider, like MediaDyme to build better campaigns.
The Law of Averages is defined as a law affirming that in the long run probabilities will determine performance; the statistical tendency toward a fixed proportion in the results when an experiment is repeated a large number of times; the law of large numbers. So let’s see how this works between the two approaches.
A “Reach” approach means to target a larger audience with less frequent marketing messages. The law of averages says that the probability of the recipient wanting to rid themselves of the problem that you can solve at the time they receive your marketing message decreases rapidly the fewer the messages you send. Many companies use the reach method. For example, a typical reach campaign may broadcast out 10,000 messages in the hopes that some have that perfect timing. In the direct mail world, that perfect timing yields a response rate from 1.5 to 3% at best. 10,000 mailings at $0.35/piece is $3,500. With a response rate of 2% (200 responses) equates to a cost per response of $17.50.
The “Frequency” approach proves for better returns based on the same Law of Averages. Send more frequent, more relevant, more personalized marketing messages to a smaller recipient list. Instead of 10,000, send 1,000 personalized messages once a month for 6 months combined with a Personal URL (vip.ABCCompany.com/JohnTarget). 6,000 combined messages at $1.00/piece costs $6,000. More relevance, more personalization, along with better call to action tools such as PURL’s, generates response rates that range from 6% to 10%. If using 6% as a response rate for the life of the campaign, this translates to a 50% increase in conversion opportunities (200 to 360) and a 5% reduction in the cost per response ($17.50 to $16.67). Personalization makes the per piece cost more expensive but the higher response rate results in a lower cost per response and substantially more opportunities to convert the response to an actual sell.
Now here comes the game changer. Combine the frequency approach with targeted personalized emails and follow on SMS (text messages) as part of the same campaign and move the response rate and the conversion rate needles to the outer edges of the bell curve. Only cross-channel marketing campaigns allow you to achieve this. It is possible without creating a labor intensive wrinkle generator. Use a cross-channel campaign provider, like MediaDyme to build better campaigns.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Single Channel Campaigns Are Sooo “1.0”
There comes a time when returning to “back to basics” is necessary. However, in today’s technology and marketing world, the speed of buzz, the way of the viral, and explosion of interactivity in the market place constantly redefines “basic.” Granted, some industries like healthcare and construction are stuck in 2nd gear when it comes to adopting new levels of technology and capability resulting in a slower shift plan to new and better ways of reaching and interacting with their marketplace. For the rest of us, we have been traveling at light speed across time with ever advancing campaign management capability. From direct mail to twitters, the conversation is multi-faceted now and if you are not keeping pace with the multiple languages required then your marketing voice will quickly fade from the conversation. A relic you will be.
Single channel marketing campaigns are cool for basics, and for those who are just learning to talk, and there are plenty of campaign tools out there that can help you speak only one language whether it be direct mail, email, SMS, voice mail, fax, RSS, etc. The effectiveness of these campaign tools are good as they all assist in creating, delivering, and managing personal and relevant marketing messages. However, using only one direct marketing channel is like only speaking Portuguese at a UN convention and expecting everyone to not only understand you, but take action on what you say. Your audience becomes narrower than you intended.
Ok, so you get it. Use more direct marketing channels as part of an integrated marketing campaign. How do you do that without pulling your hair out and crowding the sea of marketing campaign providers to achieve even the simplest of cross channels marketing? Worse yet, how do you actually understand and measure effectiveness collectively as part of the integrated campaign without piecing together spreadsheets from as many channels and providers involved?
Your decoder ring is simple. Use a single vendor that is capable of creating, delivering, and managing multi-faceted direct marketing campaigns all in one place. That’s what MediaDyme has set out to provide. Remove the roadblocks to building campaigns that cross channels in an integrated fashion. Sometimes you get ahead by mastering the rules of the game. It’s more fun to get ahead by changing the rules of the game.
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