Posted on Mon, Oct 24, 2011
Direct marketing programs are an attempt to create a highly targeted campaign that will yield results. Whenever you reach out to your prospects and customers it's a good idea to assure that you are covering the bases of a well thought-out program.
We work with many companies on developing their outbound marketing programs and we see three very common mistakes that will impact conversions and the sales that result from the direct marketing effort.
1. Lack of personalization: By adding personal details, the ability for the direct marketing campaign to evoke a reaction is dramatically improved. Impersonal offers barely break through the clutter unless the timing is fortunate and when the prospect has been searching for the service. Adding personalized touches creates the impression that the piece was created to serve the needs of the prospect. Utilizing databases effectively will enable the ability to cultivate multiple data points that further personalize the outreach.
2. Poor timing: In the rush to get the direct marketing campaign out the door, sometimes we see a disregard or lack of understanding for when the campaign will be received in the offices or homes of the prospect. If the offer is personal, arriving on a Saturday is fine, however most business prospects are not in their offices on Saturday. Timing for a mid-week arrival is typically best, late in the week is less effective. We also see correlation between offers and holidays - where the offer arrives shortly before or after a holiday, there is lower response than avoiding those holiday periods.
3. Lack of compelling offer: If the offer is not exciting or is presented in a manner that does not express urgency, there is less of a response. Our agency, Wilde Agency, has identified the psychological triggers that evoke a reaction, and one of these is the fear of loss. If there is no deadline for the offer, there is no immediacy or urgency by the recipient. Having a finite window of opportunity to react does help inspire action.
When creating a direct marketing campaign, there are other psychological trigger that help to evoke a reaction. Do you utilize any in your campaigns and do you understand how to use them? Which triggers do you use?
Posted on Fri, Sep 30, 2011
If you are attending Direct Marketing Association 2011 in Boston, you won't want to miss the Premier Event! On Monday Evening, Wilde Universal and Wilde Agency will be sponsoring a Gala Event featuring their new combined services since Universal acquired Wilde a couple months ago.
At the event, you'll meet the cast of both Universal Wilde and Wilde Agency. Walk the red carpet and be welcomed to the Best of Boston movies, with food and drink and networking to welcome you to "Bean Town".
The event is a do-not-miss highlight of this years DMA.
John Sisson, President of Universal Wilde and Neal Boornazian, President of Wilde Agency recently were interviewed about "real time marketing" as well as their views of how marketing is changing and how to be more effective.
In addition to the Premier Party, Wilde Agency's Nancy Harhut is a featured speaker for two sessions, "Harnessing Human Behavior: 13 Steps To Must Read Communications" on Tuesday at 2 PM and also "How Anyone Can Be More Creative In 3 Easy Steps" on Wednesday at 8:45 AM.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Posted on Mon, Aug 22, 2011
Direct marketing can be much more efficient when it is implemented in accordance with best practices for direct marketing. One of these practices is understanding the 40-40-20 rule.
Savvy marketing programs are those that are build on experience and which continue to optimize the results.
What Is The 40\40\20 Rule:
Based upon past performance and activities, direct marketing has established a consistent way to establish an effective ROI. Most direct marketers break the elements that drive direct marketing down to a scale similar to this. These percentages represent those elements that drive the effectiveness of the marketing piece.
- 40% List - Creating a good list cannot be overestimated. the viability of the prospects as they have been defined through a database will be critical to the direct marketing endeavor. Knowledge of the audience represents the most important portion of your messages ability to be effective.
- 40% Offer - Sending the marketing message to an audience will not succeed unless the offer is important and has recognized value by the recipient. The marketing message will be responsible for the messages effectiveness quotient.
- 20% Creative - There is so much clutter than your prospects are subject to. How do you break away from the pack and have your message heard? Its the creative that will differentiate your message and which will also contribute to the opportunity to be successful.
While it is true that each of these elements carry different weight in determining the overall success of the market effort it is important to point out that none of them stand alone. A direct marketing effort that does not take all of these elements into account will fail to achieve its goals.
Posted on Tue, Aug 02, 2011
Creating a list for direct mail can be done in many ways. you can buy lists, or use existing lists. The trick to having the highest conversion possible is to match the list with the goals. We use several processes to accomplish this matching which include:
1. Evaluate your list based upon last purchase.
Typically there is a pattern involved where the last purchase may dictate what then next purchase may be. This is the situation with some industries and can help to define the list for a product introduction based upon those who are most likely to respond. Sending a list to a general audience may be too broad and will have a lot of waste involved.
2. Evaluate your list based upon average purchases.
With some industries, the last sale may not be indicative or predictive of consumer behavior. With that in mind, it may be reasonable to take the average purchases and evaluate based upon these.
3. Evaluate your list based upon demographic matches with model customer.
If your product or service appeals to a specific target demographic, the list can be culled or evaluated to specify that bracket. For example, if you are targeted newlyweds for an insurance product, or if you are targeting retirees for a financial product.
4. Evaluate your list based upon predictive behaviors.
Sometimes, mere demographics are not enough. You may find that there are a series of factors that lead to an excellent prospect. By understanding how to query your database, you can create a mailing list that is based upon these factors. The factors can even be weighted to a level of predictability.
5. Evaluate your list based upon geographic situations.
If your product or service will experience a great influence from geographic changes or situations, you may want to organize your direct mail by a geographic parameter. For example, if you offer flood insurance, obviously you want to target a flood prone area, or even the adjacent areas. You may want to target prospects for a brand launch in a test market. Having a geographic boundary makes determining the results of that test much easier.
Perfecting your direct mail marketing list begins with defining the goals. If you properly define what the outcome should be, then determining the prospects will be a much easier selection process.
Posted on Thu, Jul 07, 2011
Improved direct mail conversions is a goal for most direct marketing programs. When creating a direct mail campaign, there are three often overlooked opportunities. These are simple things that could enhance the marketing campaign, lead to greater conversions and result in a more effective and efficient program. It's all about the bottom line, and improved direct mail conversions means improved return on marketing dollars.
"You had me at "Hello"..."
Just like the old Jerry Maguire line, you have to entice your customer into opening your invitation and engage the prospect into reading the information you are sharing.
1. Have a reason for the recipient to want to read more.
Just creating a mailing does not assure that the recipient will open it. You should have a fundamental reason that the information you are sharing is important. Dated material is important. Announcements are important. Changes to programs are important. Make sure that the information is presented in a way that the recipient recognizes that by not reading the material they are "missing something". Fear of loss (of an opportunity) is a huge motivator for people to respond to your direct mail campaign.
2. Create an interesting envelope.
You lost the customer when your envelope looked just like every other piece of junk mail. So often, a marketer spends time and energy working on the message and the appeal of the direct mail piece, but the envelope is an after thought. Consider at the least, having the envelope be a bright color, or an unusual size. The envelope should complement the message, yet it should also be important since this is the one single tool that will either engage your prospect to open or toss.
3. Personalize the letter.
There is nothing as sweet at one's own name, but there is more to personalization than just adding a name to the header. Consider the vast amount of information available in your database and make your mailing smarter! If you divide your customers into lists of prospects, you'll begin to see that there are patterns that emerge of buying habits. If you share items that are of interest to that audience, you can improve your penetration and market share and sales. It's all about using what you have more thoroughly, and making the direct mail marketing campaign really provide a personalized value for your audience.
We're curious what you think. What campaigns or direct mail pieces have you opened? Which have you tossed? Have you seen anything that you felt was particularly enticing? Awful? Let us know!
Posted on Mon, Jun 27, 2011
Direct marketing through existing direct mail lists and customer databases is typically an underutilized opportunity for business development. In fact, databases are frequently overlooked as a tool to uncover new business and find opportunities within your current business.
Whenever challenged by marketing to buy new lists, the first question is whether the existing opportunities have been exhausted. Generally this is not the case.
There are 4 keys to improving the return on your existing marketing investment. Without buying another new list, it may be time to look within your existing information to find those nuggets that can lead to business opportunities.
1. Segmentation
Segmenting the mailing list can help to identify trends among a certain audience and therefore define a marketing opportunity. This can tremendously improve the return on your marketing programs. The days of keeping all your prospects in one, huge list has gone the way of the dinosaur. No longer is marketing allowed to attempt to be all things to all people. Today's marketer has tremendous data mining and segmentation software to effectively create sub-market targets.
2. Personalization
Personalization can be achieved in several ways. For example, if this is a list of potential customers, you may want to identify them by industry. If it is a list of current customers, you can segment that list by the types of products the customer is utilizing. Marketing today is one of personalization. If you don't personalize and your competition does, you run the risk of losing that prospect.
3. Analysis
Analyzing your database may uncover opportunities that can lead to more business. Affinities, or categories that go together, may not be immediately identifiable, however looking at your customer history may uncover opportunities to cross sell or upset.
4. Evaluation
Evaluating the return on investment for various marketing programs will lead to ongoing improvement. Compare different channels and approaches, including A/B testing and multi-variate testing to see which options lead to business. Continuing to improve will lead to better return and greater conversions.
By continuing to refine your lists and create better, more personalized campaigns, then analyzing and evaluating the results, your return on investment for the marketing programs will improve.
Posted on Mon, Jun 13, 2011
Drip marketing is a technique for establishing an ongoing series of touches to develop prospects and nurture leads. The drip communication is one that keeps your message and brand in the forefront, and establishes top of mind with potential customers. The description of "drip" marketing, which apparently takes it's name from a leaky faucet, doesn’t sound sexy. Let's face it toilets and plumbing are just not hot... however, drip marketing done correctly can be really hot.
Drip marketing and direct marketing campaigns can develop prospects, educate them, and evolve them into customers. This type of multi-touch program is most effective when the messages are customized for specific audiences or, better yet, personalized by integrating the message with a database or CRM.
To be successful, drip marketing should include planned and targeted communications to target your brand and message to customers. As prospects move through the sales cycle, drip marketing builds awareness and entices or encourages prospects to become actual customers.
Drip marketing?
When attempting to share a complicated message or educate an audience, drip marketing can be very effective. Breaking the information into smaller, more palatable nuggets, then distributing these messages through drip marketing, can share useful information as well as establish trust in your brand. Especially for companies in health care or financial industry segments, this can be a critical step in engaging with customers.
High-value products with long sales cycle such as health insurance programs, mortgages or corporate finance programs are well suited for drip marketing techniques - the product is high-ticket and purchased infrequently. Keeping the brand in the eye of the prospects assures awareness and increases the likelihood that positioning your brand will assure it’s consideration when the prospect is ready to move forward.
Creative Dripping
Deciding on a theme, then executing multiple messages is important to effectively drive the drip marketing message to the audience.
Drip Message Media:
Drip messages can be executed in several media, or multiple touches in one media. Some of the most popular methods include:
- Email marketing: Email is relatively inexpensive and easy to customize and automate. An auto-responder can be configured to trigger as the result of an enrollment event then continue through a series of messages as a campaign.
- Direct mail: Direct mail software enables the drip marketing program to be highly personalized or customized. When combined with digital printing and on-demand print, variable data can be merged to personalize each touch. This is a highly effective way to use drip marketing.
- Social Media: Using Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites, the marketer can compliment the drip marketing campaign with socialized messaging and reinforce the theme.
- CRM. Integrating the information from a CRM program can create highly optimized and personalized direct mail campaigns or email campaigns. The CRM can become the repository for all prospect information, which in turn is used to evolve the campaigns even further.
What types of drip marketing campaigns have you had success with? What do you feel was the reason they were successful?
Posted on Wed, Jun 01, 2011
Meet Maureen Bourque who is a Director of Client Services at Wilde. She has been with us for an impressive 20 years. In less than two minutes, you'll discover what soft drink giant's marketing she most admires and what famous Wizard of Oz character she is related to.
Posted on Thu, May 26, 2011
One of the best tools for direct marketing are the direct mail pieces 
that we send to highly targeted lists. Unfortunately, from time to time, we have recipients who unsubscribe. The reason they unsubscribe is varied, but let's face it, getting subscribers can be expensive and time consuming.
Building a list for direct mail or email is similar, and the reasons that people unsubscribe are also similar.
That being said, it's easier to keep someone on your list than try to find new names to send to. That's why we suggest these 5 tips to grow and maintain your direct mail marketing list and email marketing list.
1. Ask for permission to send the information. Before you include someone on the list, ask whether they want to receive the information. Direct mail can be expensive. It's better to have a small, efficient list that's highly targeted, than to have a big list that has many dead leads. Using mail effectively by targeting qualified prospects will generally result in greater conversions.
2. Consider timing of your communication. Don't send out direct mail (or email) just before a holiday if you don't have a holiday specific message. Also, think about weekends and when your communication will hit. Is your product or service going to be sensitive to seasons? Is there a deadline? How much reaction time does your customer need?
3. Make your communication informative. No one wants to be spammed or solicited. There is nothing worse than getting junk mail, and for the record, it's better to send mail that is going to get read, than put into the trash without being read. If your mail campaign appears to be informative and helpful, you have a much better chance of being saved from the circular file.
4. Your message is on-target. If you have a product or service that is appealing, the recipient will be glad to get the information. It's when you send information that is targeted to the wrong audience, or that feels like it isn't meant for the recipient, it will invariably be dumped.
5. You send irrelevant information. If your information is timely and relevant, that's one thing. Please don't send out old information that isn't timely or something I feel may be important to my business.
What are some of the ways you grow your list? Do you have incentives to sign up? Offer compelling content? What's worked for you in the past?
Posted on Wed, May 18, 2011
With our Marketing Summit only one week away, it's apropos to share Nancy Harhut's employee spotlight. As Wilde Agency's Chief Creative Officer, Nancy will kick off the summit with "7 Ways to Motivate Behavior - In Any Channel".
If you haven't heard Nancy speak at one of the many conferences and events where she shares her direct marketing genious, make sure you catch her on Wednesday, May 25th at Wilde's 3rd Annual Marketing Summit.
What you won't learn at the summit is how she'd spend $1 million dollars or what she wanted to be when she was growing up. For the answers to these questions, you'll have to watch this video...
To learn more about motivating your audience to take action in any channel, and how to develop an integrated marketing plan that gets results, attend Wilde's 3rd Annual Marketing Summit on Wednesday, May 25th!
