Show me a Little Love!

Every marketer—whether working in a for-profit or not-for-profit—has one goal: Get customers, clients and donors to “Show Me the Love.” You want them to sign in, sign up, and send money.

In the dark days of yore, your options to reach these folks were limited. Direct mail; print, radio and TV advertising (or PSAs); public relations (like press releases); telephone solicitations; special events, and of course, word-of-mouth. You recognize it: It’s Marketing 101 stuff.

But today is a Brave New World, gentle people. Statistics show that each one of us is bombarded with 5,000+ advertising messages per day. That’s more than our great grandparents saw in their entire lifetimes!

Email, social media, PURLs, and text messaging has added opportunity, but has made it harder to get your message to stand out from the crowd. Figuring out where you get your donations or sales from is affecting marketers in all industries.

We are all adrift in a sea of uncertainty. Some of us simply have better life jackets than others.

So many options. So few facts.

Before you develop that fatal deer-in-the-headlight stare, consider the age of your target market. Younger folk have a variety of paths from which they get information, and no single channel predominates. Muddying the picture further, the X and Y crowd don’t seem to have developed the brand loyalty of older generations, so their allegiance is up for grabs until a clear pattern emerges. Older folks tend to stay with what they know and are comfortable with.

Here is what’s working (or not!) for a variety of marketers:

Retail. 100% of us buy retail. Just ask Safeway. But just over half of us say they have made contributions at the grocery or retail store. Most of the contributors are younger, as older folk still prefer to receive their information through direct mail, and younger people tend to spend and give more spontaneously (ie “Would you like fries with that?” “Of course!”)

Internet. Despite lingering privacy issues, most of us shop on-line today. Retailers are making great headway on the web. Non-profits are benefiting as well. 35% of the Gen Xers have gone on a charity’s web site to contribute as have 29% of the Gen Yers. But here’s the bad news: What had gotten them to that website in the first place is still TBD.

Social Media. Social Media is still largely a young person’s game. Nearly 100% of individuals under 30 use social media, with that percentage decreasing as age increases. While many of the younger users look to friends for recommendations, older users don’t. 36% of those under 30 years old have talked about a charity with friends in the past month and 29% have posted that information on their Facebook page; oldsters, not so much.

Text messaging. With near 100% cell phone market penetration, you’d think that text messaging would be huge. For instance, 77% of the public had heard about contributing to Haiti earthquake relief via their cell phones and 36% indicated willingness to contribute this way. But there is a huge generational divide. While 13-14% of the X and Yers contribute by phone, only 4% of Boomers do.

Social Events. Younger people tend to prefer social events such as 5K runs and galas. Older individuals who participate in galas tend to be gala goers, not long term prospects for donations (“I want to be seen with the right people.”) Younger people tend to give/buy spontaneously without much forethought. By comparison, older donors like to do research before they invest (think Consumer Reports and charity watchdogs), hence social events provide a bit of peer pressure to get more from younger audiences.

Direct Mail. Direct Mail is still one of the best channels for reaching people. DM earned attention—and money—from almost 100% of the Boomers, 43% of the Xers and 26% of the Yers in the last year. The age divide continues: Individuals born before 1965 voiced a strong preference for direct mail; people born after 1965 preferred web sites.

It goes on and on. Today’s multi-channel environment demands that marketers find new ways to determine response rates and ROI. We’ve figured that much out.

We haven’t figured out how to compute the value of internet vs DM (direct mail) vs WoM (word of mouth) vs text messaging vs Social Media vs special events, etc.

So many options. So few facts.

Like so many things, it used to be simpler.

Give me a hug. I need one.

Email could learn lessons from Snail Mail Marketing

"Snail Mail"-aka direct mail-is truly alive and well. Need proof? Just look at your mailbox. Every day there are provocative mailings that demand you read them.

Old technology snail mailers have a thing or two to teach tech-happy eMarketers about good marketing. Here are some Marketing 101 errors I found in my email just this week-amateur errors that cost these companies my time and attention.

Lesson #1 Verify the basics: presentation, spelling and grammar. We all know that direct mail isn't instant. But it's typically better thought out, more compelling and better composed than text messages or email blasts.

Just this past week I received email blasts from bona fide companies offering to get me some of the "simulous [sic] money that's flooding the market" and help me "refiance [sic] my home." And I don't even want to think about the spam I get offering a "free colege [sic] education" or cheap "Canadan [sic] pharmaceuticals."

Can you imagine a direct mail piece going out with those egregious errors?

eMarketers: Check your spelling before you hit the "send" button. Your error makes it easy for me to ignore your message. It makes you seem unorganized and ill-prepared. And I don't choose to spend my time or money with someone who is either unorganized or ill-prepared.

Lesson #2. Time is your ally. OK, direct mail takes longer to produce, longer to deliver and longer to start to get feedback. But time can be your friend. Truly.

Time gives the marketer a chance to think about his message. It lets him prepare it in a compelling way and select graphics to reinforce the presentation. It gives him an opportunity to consider what audience would be most receptive to his message and to craft his message to that audience. It gives him time to reflect, to reconsider, before he pulls the trigger.

eMarketers: Don't be a cowboy. Plan then execute! Doing things fast and doing things right shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

Lesson #3. Know your audience. Good direct mail does a terrific job of talking to its audience. Successful marketers who put direct mail together think about their audience before they launch. That's why letters are personalized to the recipient-to reestablish the existing relationship. That's why people living in apartments don't get letters meant for homeowners. Or why hunters don't get letters intended for PETA members.

It's patently obvious: market to someone you know with a message that is right for that person, and you'll increase your response rate. Duh!

If my incoming email is an indicator, the guys (I'm assuming they are guys) who generate this electronic stuff need a few lessons in who they are reaching out to.

As a woman, I don't need little blue pills that will give me "hours of exstacy [sic, again!]" and I certainly don't need to "keep her happy all night long." ...As a college postgrad, I don't need a free college education...As an owner of a company, I don't want to work out of my house at night to generate extra income. I am not interested in buying foreclosed property or in becoming a secret shopper, or in getting free coupons for products/stores/restaurants I don't buy/frequent/eat at.
Come on, guys! Focus!

eMarketers: Rifles work better than shotguns. Targeted, personalized messages work better than helter skelter get-as-many-out-as-you-can-in-as-short-a-time-as-you-can. That's leaping before you look. That's stupid marketing.

Lesson #4. Quantity does not equal Quality. If your marketing plan is to send out as many emails as you can to as many people as you can hoping that something will register with someone, then you have no plan. You're wasting your money and my time.

By the way, sending me the same email twice in 5 minutes does nothing to endear you to me. Sending it to me four times in two days alienates me. Got it?

Lesson #5. Give me a way to get back to you. Let's suppose I'm interested. Please be sure your email has an obvious "Contact us" link that I can use. Better yet, give me the name of a real person with a real phone number.

Oh yes-back to Lesson #1. Check and re-check your info. Be sure you've got the phone number and "contact us" link correct. Last week I responded to the Contact us link and got back a bounced message that [name of intended recipient] was no longer employed at [name of company that sent me the email]. Geez. No one is watching that store to be sure! Makes one wonder.

Maybe I am a little old gray-haired lady who is a bit crotchety and stogy. But I am your potential customer. That should count for something.

Take a lesson or two from the fuddy duddies who do direct mail marketing. Focus on the marketing basics. Good copy. Good graphics. Correct spelling. Relate your message to the recipient's interests/needs. Provide a reliable respond-back mechanism.

They've been doing it right for 50 years. Study the masters.

Need help with your direct mail marketing and email marketing? Consult a professional like Paul&Partners. We'll help you navigate the postal regulations to ensure you get the best postage rate available to you. We'll help you find the perfect people for your message, and then we'll design a package that is the right one for your audience and your budget.

Check us out at www.PaulandPartners.net. Let us know how we can help make your next marketing program more successful.

43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166

Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888 1.866.365.2858

www.paulandpartners.net sales@paulandpartners

The Death of Direct Mail?

If Mark Twain famously wrote that "rumors of my death are highly exaggerated" much the same can be said of direct mail marketing. Just look at these new statistics:

Nearly 40% of American consumers have tried a new business because of information they received from that business via direct mail. (DMNews/Pitney Bowes survey)

That same survey also disclosed that nearly 70% of consumers have renewed a relationship with a business because they received direct mail from that business.

And if having those overwhelming figures in your favor isn't enough, consider this:

* Most consumers say they prefer mail as the delivery method for "must-read" documents. (infoPrint Solutions)

So if you are not considering incorporating direct mail marketing into your marketing plans, then you are missing a real opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. That means lost opportunity for you. And lost opportunity = fewer $$. Fewer $$ means...well, you get the picture.

Consider this: despite the current economy, 29% of marketing professionals indicate they are increasing their 2009 marketing budgets. More than 40% say they are maintaining their 2008 budget levels. So that's almost 70% of marketing pros maintaining or increasing marketing dollars.

The pros know. Direct marketing is good for business.

Trim your marketing spending by even a smidgeon, and it can cost you big. The now-classic textbook case of Kmart proves the point.

In the 2001 recession, Kmart cut marketing slightly for two months in the early fall. In month 1 of the cutback, Kmart sales dropped by an astounding 5%, costing them more in sales than they saved by trimming back on the marketing budget. Management quickly reversed the decision and put bucks back into the marketing budget.

Need more proof of the vitality of direct mail marketing? Here you go....

Can you guess what is the most dependable, most response-trackable media? You got it: Direct Mail. Only direct mail can tell you exactly how many pieces you mailed to generate a specific response.

TV can deliver "eyeballs" but those eyeballs are often snoozing in front of the tube. Radio brings "ears" but those ears may be tuning out your message. Newspapers are losing so much marketshare that they are shutting down. On-line ads are annoying, expensive, and/or ignorable. Only direct mail requires that you interact with it.

When someone gets direct mail, he has to make a conscious decision to read it or toss it. He can't just ignore it. That split second as he makes his read-it-or-toss-it decision gives you, the marketer, a little window of opportunity to get your message across.

It's a tiny window, but it's often enough. When 40% of the American public says direct mail influences their buying patterns, you've just got to go with the flow. Ignore direct mail at your own financial peril.

Need help with your direct mail marketing? Consult with a professional like Paul&Partners. We'll help you navigate the postal regulations to ensure you get the best postage rate available to you. We'll help you design a package that is the right one for you and your budget.

Check us out at www.PaulandPartners.net. Let us know how we can help make your next marketing program more successful.

43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166
Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888 1.866.365.2858
www.paulandpartners.net sales@paulandpartners