Marketing BEEP

Postcard Printing – Direct Mail 101

If your business has never engaged in direct mail advertising through postcard printing, there’s never a better time to begin this marketing method than now.  The return on investment for postcard printing is almost always a net positive, as long as your postcard campaign is well designed.  This article discusses the key benefits of postcard printing and direct mail advertising.

Why postcard printing?
Postcards are an inexpensive yet effective way to quickly communicate with a customer.  Bright pictures and exciting graphics grab the attention of the customer, and before they know it they’ve been exposed to your marketing message.  Whether you are letting them know about the big promotional event, new products and services, or just letting them know that you’re thinking about them – postcards very simply and inexpensively connect with customers.

Why direct mail?
Direct mail advertising allows you to target customers.  When you know specific information about your typical customer – age, gender, geographic location, specific interests, etc – you can carefully target a print campaign to similar customers.  A well-designed mailing list can yield significant response and conversion rates.  If you’re new to these terms, response rates are simply the percentage of individuals that actually call or visit a web site because of your print campaign.  Conversion rates speak to the percentage of respondents who actually make a purchase. 

How can you use postcard printing?
You have a limited amount of space on a postcard, so you have to choose carefully what and how you communicate your message.  Postcards are typically divided into two parts: the front and back.  The front of the postcard is for the full color graphics and pictures.  The front is also where you include a very basic message.  The back of the postcard is where you include details.  This may be sales promotion dates, new product specifications, or coupon details.  The point is that the front of the card draws the customer into your marketing message and the back of the card fills in the details.

Final thoughts
Now that you know a little bit more about direct mail marketing with postcard printing, you can start putting a plan together.  Make sure to work with a professional printing firm to ensure quality printing.  Don’t forget to find a firm that can also handle your direct mailing duties, as this can save you a great deal of time and money.

Direct Marketing’s Future in Customers’ Hands, says DMA

"We are all direct marketers now, whether we know it or not," states Michelle Tiletnick, research manager of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to conclude the executive summary of the DMA's new 78-page qualitative report, “Future of Direct Marketing.”

The DMA’s first ever “Future” report details trends in direct marketing for the next 5 and 10 years, as well as how it will get there. The report contains insights from 35 direct marketing leaders, such as Herschell Gordon Lewis of Lewis Enterprises; Alan Moss of Google; Jeanniey Mullen of Zinio; and Akira Oka of Direct Marketing Japan Inc.

The experts were asked specific questions with the most interesting being: “Where do you think direct marketing will be in five and ten years?”

• Customers will be in control. If you don’t give them what they want, one of your competitors will.

• Measurable and accountable marketing will increase because with the economy, companies can’t afford to use marketing strategies that may not work.

• Traditional direct marketing (mail, catalogs) will decrease while digital marketing rises.

• Marketers will increase the use of multiple channels--but will communicate a single message.

And how will marketers prepare for all of these changes?

• Invest in the future (use technology to capitalize on data digital channels offer)

• Ask customers for their media preferences

• Test everything

• Be open-minded

The experts also weighed in on 19 industry categories, including:

• Social media: “As social and mobile channels develop, the metrics and analytics available will become more useful to brand and merchandising managers alike. Rather than simple volumetric measurements (how many people saw our YouTube ‘viral’ video, or ‘friended’ us on Facebook?), you can anticipate learning about how influence spreads through a network, and across channels,” states analytics expert “Wandering” Dave Rhee.

• Email: Jordan Cohen, senior director, industry relations for Goodmail Systems, predicts the reinvention of email as a an app that is “able to support all the functionality of a website [streaming video, rich media graphics, one-click shopping, one-click bill pay and more] with the added bonus of being able to push the content to an audience of opt-in recipients.”

• Print Catalog/retail: “Traditional retailers will become more direct, and direct merchants will look to stores as a means of competing with larger rivals and growing their brands,” according to Neil O'Keefe, the DMA's vice president for the catalog and multichannel segment.

• Interactive Marketing: According to Alan Moss, Google’s director of online sales and operations, “the current state of the economy may accelerate movement down the path that direct marketing has already begun traveling over the past few years--the path towards increased measurability.”

• Media/publishing: In 2009, Mobile Marketer Editor Mickey Alam Khan expects “resources will be moved to the Internet and even mobile, although those two channels will not be able to pay the bills for most media companies, especially with the way they are set up today.”

(Report quotes courtesy Les Luchter, MediaPost’s Marketing Daily.)

Snapily Ever After?

There’s a new startup out there called Snapily, which is an online store that creates user-customized ads, photos, cards and other paper goods into a pseudo 3-D effect. It looks pretty cool, I must say. They even add movement to 2-D images, namely photos. 

Snapily fills a void that Shutterfly, CafePress and Ofoto can’t fill – the moving, 3-D market. It seems really cool, and there’s a great video at TechCrunch’s blog that shows how it all works. You can make a photo 3-D, you can make two photos morph into one (the example is a baby face that morphs into a woman’s face), or you do a “flip” photo, where when you tilt the photo up, it shows one image, and when you flip it back down, it shows another image.

All very cool stuff that uses lenticular printing, which shows a different image depending on which angle you are looking at the photo from.  Snapily is a spinoff from HumanEyes, which has been lenticular printing for about seven years. According to the HumanEyes Web site, lenticular lenses are used to create the 3-D and morphing images. “Lenticular lenses are plastic lenses consisting of an array of optical elements (lenticules). When viewed from different angles, different areas under the lens are magnified. Lenticular images are those which are specially prepared images to which the lens is attached. Views are arranged under lenticules so that each eye is projected a different view. The brain then processes these views to a single coherent 3D image.”

Snapily offers business cards, greeting cards, notebooks and scrapbooks that can hold these “moving” images. A newer technology is in the works in which you can create a 2-second movie clip on a card that plays when you rotate it. Snapily has some competition, but it says that you have to order in bulk from its competition, but you can order in small quantities from Snapily. The products start at $3.99.

Snapily is an Israeli start-up and it uses technology called Depth Illusion Digital Imaging (DIDI), which enables the illusion of a 3-D image to be displayed on any kind of computer monitor, cell phone or overhead projector. Basically, the technology makes an image on a flat surface look 3-D.

It sounds really cool, and it looks really cool, but I offer this info with caution. Unfortunately, a TechCrunch reader posted a comment that said he ordered and paid for his product, but he hasn’t received the product. To me this is a very dark cloud over the company. The customer says he has contacted Snapily twice, but no one has gotten back to him. I really hope that this isn’t a flaky company because I really like its products, but I can’t do business with a company with bad customer service.

Non-Profits Need to Garner More Trust

“According to the statistics we have, the confidence level in charitable organizations, especially since 2001, has fallen. Prior to 2001, 90 percent of people surveyed said they trusted charitable organizations; that number has since fallen to 64 percent. Only 51 percent said they felt nonprofits managed revenue efficiently and effectively. It's a wakeup call for charitable organizations, and it's not something to be ignored.”

That’s a pretty powerful statement by Paulette Maehara, president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Much of this lack of trust has stemmed from fundraising scandals after 9-11. That’s horrible that people could take advantage of such an awful time in our history, but it’s true. And non-profits have a hard time trying to raise funds anyway, and all of the scammers out there just put a knife into many non-profits’ backs.

The good news is that contributions have continued to go up even though people’s opinions of non-profits continue to go down. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?

Maehara believes that people feel differently about the local non-profits they support than they do about the non-profits in general. She compares it to politics: You can support your local Congressman (or woman), but not Congress as a whole.

How Can Marketing Help a Non-Profit’s Image?
One of the biggest reasons why people don’t have confidence in non-profits is because donors don’t know what their money is being used for. Non-profits that take people’s money and then shut their doors until they need money again are responsible for this downturn of opinion.

Here are some ways marketing can help:

Send a thank-you note and make it specific. Once you receive a donation, send a thank-you note or thank-you card saying that you received the donation and thank the person for her generosity. But don’t stop there. Also mention what her donation will be used for – food, supplies like flashlights, wood, clothing, etc., to pay the electric bills – whatever. The point is that if people can think of something tangible they are contributing to, the non-profit won’t look shady and the donor will feel compelled to donate again. 

Update your Donor Bill of Rights. The Association of Fundraising Professionals has a Donor Bill of Rights that is generic enough for any non-profit to use. You can use your own Donor Bill of Rights by incorporating the Association’s Rights and adding one or more of your own. Why not add “To receive appropriate recognition and acknowledgment.”

By including the Donor Bill of Rights on your marketing materials – the backs of flyers, brochures, on your Web site – potential donors will know that their contribution will make a difference. Most people are too humble to ask for recognition, but knowing that they will get it anyway will influence many to donate when they otherwise wouldn’t.

Hold a charity event during which you thank donors by name. Hold a charity dinner or silent auction, and list those current donors that are attending in the event’s program. If you have enough time, you can call out their names during a part of the ceremony. Or, you could hang up signs or plaques (depending on if you can get the plaques donated) with people’s names on them by charity level. Many museums honor their donors in this way.

Just do something to recognize donors and let them see the fruits of their donations. Whether that’s in person or with photos or by testimonials of those that have been helped, let people know that their money is being used wisely. That’s what will give people more confidence in non-profits. 

Interactive Print Marketing

Television and face-to-face marketing presentations work much better than a brochure or poster. Why? Because they’re interactive. They engage people’s attention much easier than a piece of paper can. Interaction generates interest, but it also generates memory. People remember facts easier when they can associate the facts with an event or interaction.

Pop-up mailing items work especially well to engage people to find out more about your product. A UK company, Pop-Up Mailers (maybe they got so creative with their products there wasn’t enough creativity left for their name? Or, of course, they didn’t want to confuse anyone.) creates everything from cubes with marketing info printed on them to dissolving pictures. I’d like to share with you a few of their most ingenious products that you aren’t likely to see here in the United States, which is precisely why you should use them in your marketing materials. I would suggest scoping out printing companies here in the States first, though, to keep our money here while we’re in this slow economy.

Dissolving pictures – looks like a folded brochure, but you pull on a tab at the bottom and the picture changes, or dissolves into another picture. The “picture” can actually be text, or whatever you want to display, but it’s probably best to start out with an eye -catching picture and then when the reader pulls the tab you can give them your marketing message. You can use this to launch a new product, announce a grand opening or to announce a sale. The Web site has videos of how it works: http://www.popupmailers.co.uk/popup_dissolvingpicture.html.

Jumpinjax – this is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. This would especially work with kids. It’s a pop-up box that has a tray that slides out, and on that tray are 4 pop-up cubes that jump out of the tray. You need to see the video to really appreciate it:
http://www.popupmailers.co.uk/popup_jumpinjax.html. The tray can hold some promotional postcard-size info cards and the pop-up boxes can also hold your marketing message.

Fortune Teller – this one’s probably more for the girls than the guys, but I bet the guys will remember these playground, homemade toys! Remember the folded piece of paper that girls used to write fortunes on? You’d pick a color, and then spell out the color while moving the folded paper in and out while it rested on your fingers. Then you’d pick a number and count out the number. Then whatever flap of paper your number landed on was your fortune! Ah, the good ol’ days. Check them out here: http://www.popupmailers.co.uk/popup_fortuneteller.html. Whoever thought something on the playground could be turned into marketing material?

Pop-Up Mailers has a lot of other interesting pop-ups you should check out. Once you get ideas from their Web site, I’d look around at other online printing companies to see what you can order in the States. By the way, Pop-Up Mailers doesn’t have prices on their Web site; you have to ask for a quote. They do say that you have to order a minimum of 250 that each is less than the price of a birthday card, to give you a ballpark figure.

Personalizing your Small Business Marketing with Custom Greeting Cards

Many small businesses rely on personal relationships with customers because of the the word of mouth advertising that is accomplished. Realtors, photographers, car salesmen, and commercial cleaners are all examples of businesses that need to maintain close, positive relationships with clients.  Custom greeting cards are a simple way to show clients how much they mean to your business. 

Here are a few ideas to make your greeting cards more meaningful to your customers.

1. Take your own pictures of landscapes or local historical sites to add a personal touch to the greeting card.  Be sure to boast of your work on the back of the card. Use a phrase such as "This card was made by" and your logo to show customers that you took the time to make them a card.

2. Write your own greeting.  You can either leave this blank and hand write a greeting or print a simple "Thank you" with a sentence telling why you appreciate their business.

3. Send greeting cards not only on holidays and birthdays but also at various times throughout the year.  Sending an extra note just to let clients know how special they are to you creates loyal customers who feel valued, and a valued customer will keep coming back.

4. Custom envelopes imprinted with your logo and return address ensures that customers will open it because they know the mail piece is from you and not just another solicitor.  Be sure to hand write the recipient's address to make it personal.

5. Print your custom greeting cards with a commercial printer so that they are of the highest quality.  This  reinforces your professionalism in the minds of customers.  Using a wholesale full color printing company will not only produce excellent greeting cards but cost-effective ones as well.   

So show your customers how much you care about them by sending custom greeting cards throughout the year. You will see your business stabilize and grow through the first-name basis relationships you develop with your clients.

Direct Mail Lives!

There have been a lot of blog posts and articles circulating online about the “death of print marketing” or the “death of direct mail.” It seems to me to just be a bunch of hype.

Look at some numbers gathered by the clearinghouse of research on print media effectiveness, Print in the Mix (www.printinthemix.com):

• More than 60 percent of merchants say catalogs are their primary sales channel. Web sites come in at a distant second place, with only 20 percent of merchants using the Web as their primary sales channel. These numbers were gathered from the Direct Marketing Association’s State of the Catalog Industry study conducted in 2008.

• From 2003 to the present, there’s been a “large increase in circulation” of catalogs. The Direct Marketing Association states that this is probably a result of companies using catalogs to drive business to their Web sites.

• The study also found that the “paper catalog is still the largest revenue generator among all channels” of marketing. Web sales are growing, but so far haven’t touched the nearly 50 percent of sales generated by catalogs in 2007 and 2008.

Direct mail is the third most popular type of ads used to reach specific segments. Online marketing and search marketing were used more often, according to a survey by Complete (www.complete.com).

When it comes to coupons, an August 2008 study conducted by Prospectiv (www.prospectiv.com) found that “newspapers and magazines are the primary source of coupons for 51 percent of consumers.” This makes print material the top source for coupons. The same study found that nearly 40 percent of consumers polled “want to receive their future coupons via direct mail.” Only 26 percent want to receive coupons through email and 16 percent favor getting coupons from Web sites.

ExactTarget’s 2008 Channel Preference Survey found that almost 66 percent of those surveyed have made a purchased based on a marketing message received by email. More than 75 percent said they have made a purchase in response to direct mail.

All of these stats show that direct mail is still very much alive and kicking. People don’t like to get junk mail, it’s true. But they do like to receive offers that they find interesting through the mail. I think the key to doing direct mail marketing correctly is to focus your message on your target audience. Then, people don’t mind getting your direct mail and they actually use your message to make a purchase. As long as you have a targeted mailing list, it seems you’ll do better with direct mail than you will with online advertising.

How to Get Direct Mail into the CEO’s Hands

In B2B marketing, who is the decision-maker? Who do you want to see your marketing materials? It’s the top management, of course. They are the ones that have the power to write you a check and order 1,000 of your products.

Of course, top management people are busy. They’ve got packed schedules with meetings and out-of-town travel. To get something on their desk, you need to get past their assistants, along with the mailroom attendants that sort and screen incoming mail. Here are some tips on how to design and deliver direct mail to upper management for B2B sales.

Personalize your mail. Send a personalized letter “written” by your CEO to another CEO or top manager at the company whose business you’re courting. Type the letter on the CEO’s personal corporate stationary and have him actually sign it. Try not to use a signature stamp if you can help it.

You can write the basics of the letter – the selling points – and then have the CEO fill in some details that only CEO-type people would know. The CEO can talk about how good it was to see the other CEO at a recent fundraiser or party or talk about business challenges both companies are facing that only a CEO would understand.

Of course, many CEOs don’t or won’t take the time to do all of this. But a letter ghostwritten by you in your CEO’s place about the benefits of working with the other company and how you can specifically address the other company’s needs also works well. This time, you can use that signature stamp, if needed.

Use dimensional mailers. According to the Direct Marketing Association 2005 Response Rate Report, dimensional mail came in second to telemarketing (5.28% vs. 5.53%) in the lead-generation category. A dimensional mailer is anything that is uniquely packaged so that it has some dimension beyond the usual flat envelope. It could be a box, a cylinder or oftentimes, it’s something of interest inside a box. A box is usually good enough to get past the mailroom because boxes hold goodies inside.

Send a sample of your product inside the mailer, or better yet, send something that relates to your marketing theme. And remember, you’re sending this package straight to the top dog, so include something good (that might equal expensive, but it will be worth it). One example is a company that sent a CEO a box with a silk napkin embroidered with the receiving company’s logo, a silverware set and a menu that was comprised of the sending company’s services. The offer was that the sending company’s sales rep would bring a catered lunch to a scheduled appointment if the CEO would hear her out.

Don’t use teasers on the front of your envelope or postcard. Teasers that work with consumers, like “Free” and “Urgent” won’t fly when it comes to corporate mail. The mailroom attendants will throw those away without a second glance. Use classy envelopes and full color postcards that have a simple, elegant design that the mailroom attendant would think the CEO wouldn’t mind seeing. Use plain envelopes but colorful postcards. A black-and-white postcard only works if it gives off the feel of your brand. In most cases, though, a full color postcard will catch the CEO’s attention more so than one that looks like newspaper print.

Use overnight mail. If you can afford it, overnight it. When the package says FedEx or DHL on it, it usually gets opened right away. There’s obviously something important in there if the sender spent the money to get the package there overnight.

After doing all this, you’ve got a good chance of getting your mail in the hands of the decision-maker. Now what? Make sure your offer is out-of-this-world and is something the top manager wants and needs for his company. Offer him something he can’t get anywhere else, like a special report or a special product that none of his competitors have. Don’t waste your money getting your mail in the CEO’s hands if you can’t give him a great offer.