MDC Group Inc’s Blog

6 Summer Marketing Tips

It’s warm and sunny, the beach calls. You ask yourself “Why shouldn’t I just give in and go? Marketing is a waste of time at this time of year.”

Summer with its delicious distractions tempts you to decide that nothing is going to happen in your business so why not just enjoy the season.

If you decide to make that choice you will be joining much of your competition in thinking summer time is play time.

With the competition out of the game, now is the time to get out and get serious about your business as they lie on the beach.

Give yourself a break from the everyday pressure of marketing and sales by working on future business NOW!

Going into the fall with business on the books before you start the season is not only a great feeling; it changes your perspective when a prospect that may not be a good fit comes along.

Having core business gives you time to explore and investigate other opportunities that come along. Those other opportunities sometimes form the basis for innovation in how you do business, the way you market and what the primary focus of your business is.

Put the power and control of your future back in your own hands.

Implement these summer marketing tips starting today:

   • Summer is a slower time of year for some media which means you can negotiate a better deal
     and extend the buy into the higher priced fall by planning and booking now.

   • Send a Press Release while media staff is reduced by the holiday season and pressure to
     produce is on fewer numbers of media writers with less time to look for stories.

   • Do take some additional time to read some new marketing books, write some new articles and
     learn a new marketing skill i.e. blogging or social marketing

   • Hold an annual or semi-annual sale with clear parameters of what, when, and how to ensure it
     doesn’t creep into the busy fall.

   • Offer a free seminar, put on a picnic, sponsor a high profile summer time event, and/or hire a
     student to distribute a coupon. Do something different to capitalize on the opportunity created by
     large gatherings at special events and more people out on the street in the summer.

   • Make a special offer to your current customers to introduce them to another product or service
     they haven’t yet bought.

If you need to see the possibilities before you put an effort into summer marketing try the following exercise:

   • Draw a circle on a piece of paper representing the market size of your industry. Mark your pie
     shaped share of the market, no matter how small.

   • Draw a larger circle around the same central point and extend the sides of your piece of the pie
     to the new perimeter.

   • See what happens to your piece of the pie when people return to their fall routines and the
     prospects you spoke to and those who decided to do business with you told their friends?

That increase is your customer base growing exponentially from the marketing work you did while others were relaxing in the sun.

“Some people forget to plant in the spring, idle away the summer hours and then expect to reap in the fall.”
Grant M. Bright

There is still time to give attention to your summer marketing and reap the benefits this fall and into 2011.

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Four Steps to Marketing Smarter (and for Less) in Today’s Economy

by Kimberly Smith

The economy is sour, consumers aren’t buying, and the competitive landscape is mutating. From marketers everywhere we hear a collective “where to even begin?”

“Start with a company-wide deep breath, since it’s so hard to panic during a deep breath, and it’s conducive to thinking and creativity, too,” suggests Tim Berry, president of Eugene, OR-based Palo Alto Software.

He and a few other industry pundits—including Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott, Bryan Eisenberg, and Jonathan Salem Baskin—recently lent their advice for marketing smarter, and for less, in the down economy.

You’ll find their comments and more here in our quick list of the steps that marketers can immediately start taking to hone their programs and cut back on expenses.

Step 1: Get back to basics

When the going gets tough, the tough get down to business and figure out exactly where they are, how they got there, what it was that originally led them to their heyday, and how they might evolve those strategies to function through the current economy.

“These downturns are good for spurring us to step back away from the business and take that fresh look; it’s like an artist squinting to see the landscape differently,” said Berry.

His recommendations include setting aside time to do a thorough SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and answering vital questions, such as these:

• What makes your company unique? What advantages do you have to leverage? Which challenges can be transitioned into opportunities? And is the company prepared to take on those challenges?
• Where do you make the most profit? And where are your resources being spent? To what extent do those connect?
• Are your products and promotions aligned with current market needs and expectations? What is the overall perception of your company and product in the marketplace? What are your customers saying?
• What are your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses? How do competitor products and promotions compare with—and impact—your products and promotions?
• Which is your most profitable customer segment? And which customers are you most likely to retain if the economy worsens? Are there alternate market segments that might now be better positioned for your products and services?
• What are the current and foreseeable trends in your industry? Are there any emerging trends on which you may be able to capitalize? How might your value proposition be altered to reflect new trends and new consumer expectations?
• How up-to-date is your marketing plan? How valid is the rationale behind your current marketing programs and promotions? Is your marketing accountable for results?

Your SWOT analysis won’t necessarily paint a pretty picture, but if you go about it honestly you’ll gain a much clearer view on where you should be focusing your efforts.

Step 2: Let the data be your light

As businesses realize that this economic downturn is not some minor blip that will soon correct itself, marketers must reconcile with the fact that things have changed for the long term, and so must they.

And as we begin the process of determining what to keep and what to cut from the old “game plan,” it is important to realize that this is not the time for guessing or playing favorites with campaigns of sentimental value. It’s time to put our trust in cold, hard data—for real this time.

“The days of propagating brand image into the cosmos are long gone…. Marketers need to find ways to map behaviors against desired outcomes, [and figure out] what actions will lead targets to buying things,” offered Jonathan Salem Baskin, marketing strategist and author of Branding Only Works on Cattle. “Think about shortening, or making more direct, the connection between marketing expenditure (or tactic) and some demonstrable behavior evidenced by the target customer or consumer.”

Bryan Eisenberg, analytical-marketing consultant and author of Teaching Your Cat to Bark, said one of the biggest mistakes companies make is collecting the data but not analyzing it or leveraging it to make improvements.

“Companies need to understand not only how to get the data but also what to do with it, and that takes work,” he explained. “It’s a four-letter dirty word, but ultimately it is the key to being successful.”

For example, women’s clothing retailer Intermix (the subject of this week’s premium case study), was able to increase multichannel revenue 9% from June 2008 to January 2009 by doing just that—repeatedly digging into the numbers to identify unique customer segments and the specific offers that appealed to each group individually.

“Execution is not a one-time event,” Eisenberg advised. “Execution is something you have to do on a regular basis. There’s always something that can be improved, and it’s about finding the biggest hole, patching it, and doing that relentlessly.”

In addition to demonstrating the overall advantage of ongoing testing and refinement, the Intermix campaign illustrates the need to look at not just how one marketing tactic compares with another but also how distinct customer segments respond differently to the same campaigns.

Eisenberg recommends taking the time to dissect any non-campaign components that may influence the customer experience (the company Web site, for example), and making incremental improvements that help increase conversion on a more permanent level.

Step 3: Take the high road

Consumers are skeptical—and who can blame them, considering the number of financial scandals that have recently come to light. But that’s why now, perhaps more than ever, it is essential for companies to appear very upfront and honest, smart, and innovative—as leaders that consumers can, and want, to trust.

It’s time to think best-practices, not gimmicks.

“I think the down economy is no real barrier to marketing remarkable products in a human way,” offered bestselling author Seth Godin, who offered incisive wisdom: “Instead of yelling, connect. Instead of pushing, lead.”

Hyundai Motor America, the pioneer of “America’s Best Warranty,” recently launched an industry-altering campaign when it announced its new Hyundai Assurance Program, which promises consumers the option to return their newly leased or financed Hyundai vehicles and “walk away” from any loan obligations should they lose their incomes within the coming year. “We’re all in this together, and we’ll all get through it together,” its ads tell consumers.

The Associated Press reports that the program has already had an impact on Hyundai sales performance, assisting a 14.3% growth in sales in a time when most of the company’s competitors are struggling with losses.

The program has “struck a chord with American consumers during these uncertain times,” Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America vice-president of national sales, said in a statement.

Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, agrees that the Hyundai campaign is a commendable approach in today’s economy. “Advertising has to connect with folks,” he explained in a recent NPR interview about recession marketing. “You don’t want to talk about price and being cheap… you have to talk about value, or you’ve gotta really talk about what makes you unique.”

Step 4: Go social

Following Godin’s and Calkins’ advice for connecting with consumers has recently become easier—and much more cost effective—with the dawn of new online media.

“We’re living in a time when we can reach the world directly, without having to spend enormous amounts of money on advertising and without investing in huge public relations efforts to convince the media to write (or broadcast) about our products and services,” explained David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author of the bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

Organizations such as performance company Cirque du Soleil and online invoicing service Freshbooks have been working to establish themselves on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where they can make personal connections with customers through one-to-one interactions.

“We have found [Twitter] to be one of our most successful tools from a listening and engagement perspective,” a Freshbooks representative said.

Other companies are using low-cost online media to directly grow their businesses—with fantastic results.

For example, as consumers cut back on major purchases throughout most of 2008, used-car retailer Auction Direct USA realized an annual sales increase of 40%. IT/Web director Eric Miltsch attributes a strong majority of that growth to the company’s low-cost online-marketing efforts, which include social-networking sites, mobile web sites, and a company blog.

In another example, Paris, IL-based pet food retailer K9 Cuisine has grown its business from the ground up — achieving $2.5 million in sales in less than two years—without spending a dime on traditional advertising. Instead, the company engages in online forum conversations, has a company blog, and connects with customers on Facebook and Twitter. In all cases, K9 Cuisine is careful to offer content of value, which is helping the company establish trust, along with a very loyal customer base.

“There is a tremendous opportunity right now to reach buyers in a better way: by publishing great content online, content people want to consume and that they are eager to share with their friends, family, and colleagues,” Meerman Scott said.

“Instead of investing tons of money in expensive agencies and big-bucks advertising, create something valuable and publish it on the Web for free.”

View Source

Four Steps to Marketing Smarter (and for Less) in Today’s Economy

by Kimberly Smith

The economy is sour, consumers aren’t buying, and the competitive landscape is mutating. From marketers everywhere we hear a collective “where to even begin?”

“Start with a company-wide deep breath, since it’s so hard to panic during a deep breath, and it’s conducive to thinking and creativity, too,” suggests Tim Berry, president of Eugene, OR-based Palo Alto Software.

He and a few other industry pundits—including Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott, Bryan Eisenberg, and Jonathan Salem Baskin—recently lent their advice for marketing smarter, and for less, in the down economy.

You’ll find their comments and more here in our quick list of the steps that marketers can immediately start taking to hone their programs and cut back on expenses.

Step 1: Get back to basics

When the going gets tough, the tough get down to business and figure out exactly where they are, how they got there, what it was that originally led them to their heyday, and how they might evolve those strategies to function through the current economy.

“These downturns are good for spurring us to step back away from the business and take that fresh look; it’s like an artist squinting to see the landscape differently,” said Berry.

His recommendations include setting aside time to do a thorough SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and answering vital questions, such as these:

• What makes your company unique? What advantages do you have to leverage? Which challenges can be transitioned into opportunities? And is the company prepared to take on those challenges?
• Where do you make the most profit? And where are your resources being spent? To what extent do those connect?
• Are your products and promotions aligned with current market needs and expectations? What is the overall perception of your company and product in the marketplace? What are your customers saying?
• What are your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses? How do competitor products and promotions compare with—and impact—your products and promotions?
• Which is your most profitable customer segment? And which customers are you most likely to retain if the economy worsens? Are there alternate market segments that might now be better positioned for your products and services?
• What are the current and foreseeable trends in your industry? Are there any emerging trends on which you may be able to capitalize? How might your value proposition be altered to reflect new trends and new consumer expectations?
• How up-to-date is your marketing plan? How valid is the rationale behind your current marketing programs and promotions? Is your marketing accountable for results?

Your SWOT analysis won’t necessarily paint a pretty picture, but if you go about it honestly you’ll gain a much clearer view on where you should be focusing your efforts.

Step 2: Let the data be your light

As businesses realize that this economic downturn is not some minor blip that will soon correct itself, marketers must reconcile with the fact that things have changed for the long term, and so must they.

And as we begin the process of determining what to keep and what to cut from the old “game plan,” it is important to realize that this is not the time for guessing or playing favorites with campaigns of sentimental value. It’s time to put our trust in cold, hard data—for real this time.

“The days of propagating brand image into the cosmos are long gone…. Marketers need to find ways to map behaviors against desired outcomes, [and figure out] what actions will lead targets to buying things,” offered Jonathan Salem Baskin, marketing strategist and author of Branding Only Works on Cattle. “Think about shortening, or making more direct, the connection between marketing expenditure (or tactic) and some demonstrable behavior evidenced by the target customer or consumer.”

Bryan Eisenberg, analytical-marketing consultant and author of Teaching Your Cat to Bark, said one of the biggest mistakes companies make is collecting the data but not analyzing it or leveraging it to make improvements.

“Companies need to understand not only how to get the data but also what to do with it, and that takes work,” he explained. “It’s a four-letter dirty word, but ultimately it is the key to being successful.”

For example, women’s clothing retailer Intermix (the subject of this week’s premium case study), was able to increase multichannel revenue 9% from June 2008 to January 2009 by doing just that—repeatedly digging into the numbers to identify unique customer segments and the specific offers that appealed to each group individually.

“Execution is not a one-time event,” Eisenberg advised. “Execution is something you have to do on a regular basis. There’s always something that can be improved, and it’s about finding the biggest hole, patching it, and doing that relentlessly.”

In addition to demonstrating the overall advantage of ongoing testing and refinement, the Intermix campaign illustrates the need to look at not just how one marketing tactic compares with another but also how distinct customer segments respond differently to the same campaigns.

Eisenberg recommends taking the time to dissect any non-campaign components that may influence the customer experience (the company Web site, for example), and making incremental improvements that help increase conversion on a more permanent level.

Step 3: Take the high road

Consumers are skeptical—and who can blame them, considering the number of financial scandals that have recently come to light. But that’s why now, perhaps more than ever, it is essential for companies to appear very upfront and honest, smart, and innovative—as leaders that consumers can, and want, to trust.

It’s time to think best-practices, not gimmicks.

“I think the down economy is no real barrier to marketing remarkable products in a human way,” offered bestselling author Seth Godin, who offered incisive wisdom: “Instead of yelling, connect. Instead of pushing, lead.”

Hyundai Motor America, the pioneer of “America’s Best Warranty,” recently launched an industry-altering campaign when it announced its new Hyundai Assurance Program, which promises consumers the option to return their newly leased or financed Hyundai vehicles and “walk away” from any loan obligations should they lose their incomes within the coming year. “We’re all in this together, and we’ll all get through it together,” its ads tell consumers.

The Associated Press reports that the program has already had an impact on Hyundai sales performance, assisting a 14.3% growth in sales in a time when most of the company’s competitors are struggling with losses.

The program has “struck a chord with American consumers during these uncertain times,” Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America vice-president of national sales, said in a statement.

Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, agrees that the Hyundai campaign is a commendable approach in today’s economy. “Advertising has to connect with folks,” he explained in a recent NPR interview about recession marketing. “You don’t want to talk about price and being cheap… you have to talk about value, or you’ve gotta really talk about what makes you unique.”

Step 4: Go social

Following Godin’s and Calkins’ advice for connecting with consumers has recently become easier—and much more cost effective—with the dawn of new online media.

“We’re living in a time when we can reach the world directly, without having to spend enormous amounts of money on advertising and without investing in huge public relations efforts to convince the media to write (or broadcast) about our products and services,” explained David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author of the bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

Organizations such as performance company Cirque du Soleil and online invoicing service Freshbooks have been working to establish themselves on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where they can make personal connections with customers through one-to-one interactions.

“We have found [Twitter] to be one of our most successful tools from a listening and engagement perspective,” a Freshbooks representative said.

Other companies are using low-cost online media to directly grow their businesses—with fantastic results.

For example, as consumers cut back on major purchases throughout most of 2008, used-car retailer Auction Direct USA realized an annual sales increase of 40%. IT/Web director Eric Miltsch attributes a strong majority of that growth to the company’s low-cost online-marketing efforts, which include social-networking sites, mobile web sites, and a company blog.

In another example, Paris, IL-based pet food retailer K9 Cuisine has grown its business from the ground up — achieving $2.5 million in sales in less than two years—without spending a dime on traditional advertising. Instead, the company engages in online forum conversations, has a company blog, and connects with customers on Facebook and Twitter. In all cases, K9 Cuisine is careful to offer content of value, which is helping the company establish trust, along with a very loyal customer base.

“There is a tremendous opportunity right now to reach buyers in a better way: by publishing great content online, content people want to consume and that they are eager to share with their friends, family, and colleagues,” Meerman Scott said.

“Instead of investing tons of money in expensive agencies and big-bucks advertising, create something valuable and publish it on the Web for free.”

View Source

Marketing Mindset When Times are Tough

By Karen Scharf

When the economy gets tough, an ironic thing happens… people stop marketing their business and services. I call it ironic because now is the best time to ramp up your marketing, not cut back on it.

As an entrepreneur, I’ll bet that you, too, are tempted to scale back on your marketing activities. When you’re in uncharted waters, it’s a natural reaction to do what everyone is doing. If you’re new to business, and you see all your competitors cutting back on marketing, you automatically assume that’s the right thing to do.

And marketing when times are tough can feel just plain ol’ “icky”. You see people around you struggling, you hear about job layoffs and house foreclosures and constant doom and gloom, and it feels a little weird to ask people to do business with you.

But that’s because you’re looking at marketing wrong. Instead of a “you give me money” attitude, you need to adopt an “I give you value” attitude.

I’m sure you’ve heard it before – and you’ve probably noticed it yourself – even in these “tough times” people are still spending money. And they’re spending on more than just the essentials. In fact, a few weeks ago when I took a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo, it was absolutely jam packed. There were so many people there, we couldn’t even find a place to sit down at lunch time. We had to get to the dolphin show 30 minutes early just to make sure we could get in. And you can hardly call a trip to the zoo a necessary purchase. In fact, by the time you add up parking, entrance tickets, overpriced lunch, show tickets, souvenirs… it can almost qualify as a luxury purchase.

So why was the zoo so crowded? Well, it was early spring, the weather was starting to get nice, people were looking for an excuse to get out of the house, and the zoo had recently run an amazing advertising campaign. Every other attraction in town had cut back on advertising, so when it came time to choose an activity, the Zoo was forefront on everyone’s mind.

You see, when everyone else around you is reducing their marketing for “budgetary” reasons, increasing your marketing by a mere 10% will make you rise so far above the crowd, there will be no competition. When a prospect needs your services, you will be the only option she considers, since you will be the only option in front of her.

During tough times, you might be tempted to lower your price to make your marketing feel less invasive. But don’t do it! There are so many reasons not to lower your price, I could turn that discussion into an entire book. Rather than focusing on price, focus on value.

The majority of shoppers do not buy based on price alone. Remember, there are many more stores out there that are *not* Walmart. What your customer is really looking for is value.

I heard a great explanation of value given by Don Taylor of Minding Your Own Business. As he explains it, value is like a seesaw. Price is one side and quality and quantity are on the other. As long as you can balance the seesaw, or tip it toward the quality end, your customers will buy.

Your job as an entrepreneur is to create value. And then promote that value. And then promote that value just a little bit more, especially as your competitors are cutting back. You’ll soon rise above the crowd and your business will flourish.

Now, go find some more clients!

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7 Signs Your Marketing May Need to Evolve

A lot of marketers get both confused and fed up with all the talk about things like new media, social media, inbound marketing, user generated content, and the age of conversation. I mean, how is a person suppose to apply all these somewhat vague and hard to pin down terms and trends. Well, there’s no denying that the world and certainly the world of marketing has changed. If you’re trying to wrap your head around what that might mean for you, here are seven very concrete ways to start viewing the evolution of your marketing strategies and practices.

1) Your marketing strategy is a sales strategy – far too many small business folks view marketing as selling. I’ve got nothing against sales, you must have them, but what you must have, before a sales presentation is ever made, is a crystal clear, very easy to understand difference. You must claim and communicate at every turn the way that your products, services, and processes are uniquely here to make some narrowly defined target market’s life better. Oh, and it can’t be boring, there must be something remarkable enough about your business or strategy that people go out of their way to tell others about it. Do that and selling not only gets easier, it gets somewhat superfluous.

2) You use mail-in rebates – OK, really this one’s kind of a pet peeve of mine, but it applies to any kind of odd or confusing issues around pricing, buying your products, contacting your company, or engaging your services. Any practice that doesn’t make sense or makes your customers jump through hoops, either because it makes your life easier or you’re intentionally trying to trick people into buying, is so last century.

3) You are the low price loser – This is the opposite of the low price leader. See, the low price leader uses technical or operational advantages to profitably thrive in competitive pricing scenarios. The low price loser simply tries to compete on price alone instead of competing on value. Value means many things, but far too often business owners undervalue or under-educate about true value and are forced to differentiate based on price. Differentiate, activate and army talkers, add value, and charge premium prices.

4) You think a blog is something created by the IT department – Blogging is the tip of the very large iceberg of content creation in the new world of marketing, but it’s still one of the easiest ways for you to play. The fact that anyone can find anything they want about any business or challenge by simply visiting a search engine means that you must be consistently producing content that allows your business to be the one they find online. Committing to producing educational content through the low-cost, easy to operate blogging software is a no-brainer for your marketing department.

5) You think lead generation is about hunting – the problem with going out and hunting down your prospects is that they have developed far too many ways to tune your messages out or simply developed a numbness to much of what they see as attempts to sell them stuff. Today’s marketers are optimizing tons of content, written word, images, audio, and video and placing it online, offline, and in outposts like LinkedIn and Business Week’s Business Exchange so that when prospects go looking, and they still are, these marketers are being found.

6) You think the only way to press coverage is pounding journalists with press releases – Well, I’m not really sure this was ever that effective, but identifying key journalists and building relationships through relevant interaction on their blog, sending industry data, and commenting on stories is a far better way to become a quoted source. Expand your view of the media to include industry blogs (some of which have larger and more focused readerships than a traditional metro Business Journal) and build relationships with these individuals. Consistently submit press releases and articles to online distribution sites such as PRWeb and Pitch Engine.

7) You think the best way to get more referrals is to ask – Sure asking for referrals is a good thing, but being more referable is a better thing. You make your organization more referable when you do something that’s remarkable, that people can’t not talk about. And, you do it by looking at every interaction with a prospect or customer as a marketing interaction. You do it by making certain that in every engagement the customer not only receives the value, but realizes that value fully. You do it by keeping your promise in a way that provides a wonderful experience.

By:John Jantsch
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What Really Triggers a Referral?

Referrals most naturally happen when two people are talking and one of the parties expresses a pain in the neck. If the other party just had her pain in the neck fixed, she may very well say something like, “ooh, you just gotta call Bob, he’s the best pain in the neck fixer on the planet.”

Right? We’ve all done some variation of that exchange in making or receiving a referral.

Problem is, we don’t spend enough time teaching our customers and referral sources the types of complaints, frustrations, challenges, and situations our customers generally espouse when they are actually in the act of qualifying themselves as a great referral.

Here’s what I mean. We ask our customers and referral sources if they know anyone who needs a fully optimized, solutions driven lawn manicure specialist, when we should probably be asking them if they know anyone whose dog keeps getting loose because their lawn service always leaves the gate open.

I believe any salesperson worth their salt has developed a list of phrases, situations, and verbal clues that, if heard during a sales presentation, signal it’s time to take the order.

The same idea is true of a qualified referral.

My belief is that the best way to make it easy for people to refer business your way is to develop a list of “trigger” phrases that experience tells you are the exact words your prospects utter when then need what you’ve got.

For example, if you sell accounting software, it’s rare that a prospect might walk up to a golf buddy and say, I sure wish I had some better accounting software.

But, he might say - “I have no idea how healthy my business is because we never have timely data”, or,”I feel like I’m being help hostage by my accounting firm,” or “we keep everything on spreadsheets and it’s a real hassle to update.”

In many cases these folks don’t have any idea that your accounting software is the answer, but you do, so these utterances are your invitation to save the day.

Spend a couple hours brainstorming with anyone in your organization that has customer contact of any kind or call up a dozen customers and ask them to identify the true value your firm brings them with the goal of creating a top ten list of trigger phrases that everyone in your organization and anyone wishing to refer business could use as the perfect way to spot your ideal customer.

Then, clean this list up and create a document you can use in your marketing education processes. (This might end up being the best internal sales training tool you’ve created to date.)

You can even take it a step farther and publicize this content in some manner in your marketing materials because it’s likely that a prospect might be saying these exact things to themselves as well.

Close the loop on this process by also creating some tools, like gift certificates, special referral offers, or coupons, that your referral sources can use any time they hear a trigger phrase.

Prospect: “I’ve been waiting over a week for my lawyer to call me back.” - Referral Source: “Really, my attorney calls me back within 24 hours guaranteed - here’s her card, because I recommended you she’ll review your first contract for free.”

By John Jantsch
View Source Here

Firms Hold Fast to Snail Mail Marketing

Despite Prevalence of Digital Media, Entrepreneurs Find Old Fashioned Direct Mailings Still Key to Winning Customers

By TERI EVANS

Looking to cut costs amid the recession, Alicia Settle initially thought it would be a good idea to eliminate her company’s annual direct mailing.

Spending about $20,000 on the personally signed letters, which offered customers a discount on early orders, seemed indulgent for Per Annum Inc., which sells city diaries, albums, and planners in the struggling corporate gift market. But after swapping snail mail for email last year, Ms. Settle saw a 25% drop in early orders compared with the same period the previous year.

“We realized we had made a huge mistake,” says Ms. Settle, president of the New York firm.

The affordability of e-marketing, along with the explosion of social media and the desire to trim costs in the recession, has prompted many small companies like Per Annum to slash traditional direct-mail budgets. U.S. consumers received about 5.2 billion pieces of direct mail in the third quarter of 2009, a 27% decline compared with 7.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Mintel Comperemedia, a research firm that tracks direct-mail marketing.

However, some entrepreneurs who were quick to write off direct mail as too pricey or passé are finding it’s not so easy to dismiss.

Ms. Settle says that at first she blamed the economy for the dropoff, until she “started hearing from customers that they never got their ‘reminder’ in the mail.” Ms. Settle quickly sent a postcard mailing in June, which recouped the 25% loss, she says.

Costs are still taken into account. Many entrepreneurs find that the boiler-plate methods of the past—such as purchasing mailing lists and sending fliers or coupons to a mass audience—often aren’t cost-effective. Instead, business owners are creating personalized mailings, which may include special offers or other valuable information, and sending them to a hand-picked list of current and prospective customers.

The idea is to send something that’s more appealing than “junk” mail and potentially more noticeable than an email message, says Eric Anderson, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. That allows business owners “to offer a personal touch the larger firms may not be able to have,” he says.

To save money, Peter Taffae, founder of ExecutivePerils, a Los Angeles wholesale insurance broker, stopped his small firm’s humorous postcard mailings last year. The colorful marketing pieces showcase the insurance broker’s offerings through satirical movie themes, such as “Full Metal Policy,” a parody of “Full Metal Jacket” and “Singin’ in the Renewal,” from the classic film “Singin’ in the Rain.” About 2,000 current and potential clients received the postcards, which cost the company $4,000 to send out every four to six weeks.

“We would visit some clients and notice they were hanging the postcards on the wall, collecting them,” says Mr. Taffae, who says he secured $270,000 from a new client who chose to do business with the firm in late 2008 after receiving the postcards.

“After two or three months [of no postcards], we got a lot of emails and phone calls asking us, ‘Did you take me off your list?’” says Mr. Taffae, who restarted the postcard mailings in November.

William Kapas, president of J.C. Kapas Real Estate Co. in Rochelle Park, N.J., says he has secured clients as a result of his high-gloss, four-color monthly mailings that list who has bought or sold restaurant properties though the firm.

“Our clients look forward to knowing, and it’s a little bit of gossip, too,” says Mr. Kapas, who exclusively uses traditional mail to reach clients. “I think it’s easier to delete the electronic junk mail without taking a second look.”

Mr. Kapas spends about $1 a piece for the monthly mailings, sent to about 2,200 current and prospective customers.

Prof. Anderson says other business owners are trying to figure out how to integrate Web marketing—such as email campaigns, banner ads and social-networking sites—with direct mail. “The introduction of new media has forced [business owners] to go back and revisit the whole playbook on what’s the best way to communicate with customers,” Mr. Anderson says.

Ms. Settle, for instance, plans to use e-marketing to complement the hand-signed direct-mail piece, not replace it.

Meanwhile, Mr. Taffae is starting to take his satirical marketing approach to YouTube; he’s created a parody of F Troop, the 1960s sitcom, to promote his firm online.

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How Much Would You Pay For 2 Seconds?

With direct mail how much time do you think you have below the eyes of your prospect before they decide to take action or chuck it in the garbage.  Let me tell you its quick, REAL QUICK. You need to grab their attention fast and compel them to read on.

How exactly can you do that? You don’t want to go through the trouble of designing, implementing and the overall cost of a campaign all for it just to end up in the garbage.  So what can you do with your direct mail piece to smack your prospect across the face and get them to take action?

Personalize, Personalize, Personalize

People are much more likely to read a piece of mail that contains a personalized marketing message as opposed to a general marketing statement found on most direct mail pieces. Variable Data Printing now allows businesses to personalize thousands and thousands of mail pieces with minimal to zero extra effort and cost.

Personalizing your direct mail piece is the surest way to draw attention to your mail piece. When it comes to direct mail the longer the eyeballs of your prospect stay above your marketing piece the better chance you have of ringing in a new sale.

Another great marketing nugget brought to you by
The Print Concierge

Are Your Marketing Dollars Creating One-Time Customers Or Customers For Life?

New leads, let’s face it, they aren’t cheap. In most cases, you will get more return from your marketing dollars spent generating repeat business than from new lead marketing efforts. You still definitely need to have those new leads coming in, but you should also make sure that you’re not neglecting those who’ve purchased from you in the past.  With today’s digital marketing tools you can do both inexpensively and effectively.

Connection.  If you had to describe in one word why the Internet changed everything, it would be connection.  Business and personal relationships have changed due to the Internets ability to instantly connect people through email, websites, and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

However, this global connection has created a problem for the local business in their local markets.

Why?

1.     Traditional print advertising is becoming less effective.

2.     Most people have thrown their Yellow Pages away and search online.

3.     Newspaper’s readership is down.

4.     With Tivo and DVR’s, many are skipping commercials.

5.     Search results are dominated by large companies.

6.     Searching for new customers?

Let’s face it, the Internet has become today’s yellow pages.  It used to be that a local business had to be in the yellow pages to be found.  Today, 97% of people who are online search online to find a source of local products or sources.  Eighty-two percent of online searches result in offline actions, such as a call or visit. Bottom-line - 6 out of 10 result in a purchase.

Did you know?

1.     97% of people with online access will research products and services online before they purchase?

2.     55% of all searches are done with an intent to buy?

3.     Of all local searches, 8 out of 10 will visit or call a store or business and 60% of those result in a purchase.

“I have a web presence you say?”

The real question is not do you have a website, but how are you driving potential customers to it?  Is it a tree in the forest?  It is hard to stand out in the crowd.  And believe me it is a crowd.  There are 1 TRILLION web pages today - and growing every day.  How can your products and/or services stand out when your potential customer is online searching?

A website and online marketing, such as Search Engine Marketing, are typically not inexpensive.  Or is it?  What if I told you it could be as little as a cup of Starbucks/day and with GUARANTEED RESULTS.  Stay tuned, let me show you how affordable it can be for your business.

“But I am in the Yellow Pages or the newspaper you say”.

Traditional advertising, in today’s highly competitive marketplace, has proven to be inefficient in helping many small businesses grow.  Newspaper and Yellow page readership continues to decline, while their cost to run ads goes up.  Google and other online search engines are today’s yellow pages.  The questions we have to ask ourselves are:

Why advertise in a declining market?  And

Why spend more money to reach fewer people?

Keep Your Best Customers Buying from YOU
Budgets these days are tight and it’s important to know both that your marketing is working and to capitalize on your repeat business. Your best customers didn’t become your best customers from one small sale. Being great at what you do is not always enough to keep the customers that you have earned.

Take Disney for example. They are the self-proclaimed “most magical place on earth” but their 2009 third quarter sales don’t reflect it. Revenue was down 9% to $2.8 billion, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Now they’re boosting their marketing efforts to their previous attendees to increase revenue. They know these families have shown an interest in the past, so Disney is “nudging” them to come again with Free Dining Plans, 3 nights free hotel stay incentives and the “play free on your birthday” campaign, just to name a few. They have the room to make these great offers because of the much higher response rate when promoting to their past customers.

With all of the competition out there today, you need to constantly remind your customers that you are the best at what you do. Direct mail paired with a consistent email campaign, such as an electronic newsletter (E-newsletter)  is an effective way to remind your customers about your products and services and how they’ve trusted you in the past!  And it can accomplish two more important strategies:

1.     Give to get.

2.     Front of mind marketing.

What do I mean by give to get?  Give away your best ideas and tips that are important to your consumers.  Any advice or tips on making the budget go farther in today’s consumer climate can make your communication piece valuable.  The result is that your mail or E-newsletter will become a “welcome guest” not an “annoying pest” to your list.

What is “front of mind marketing?”  It has to do with finding ways to keep your product and company in the forefront of your prospects/customers mind so that when they need what you do or have, they think of your company first.  In other words a prospect or a customer”

remembers you or your company.

remembers what you do.

is thinking about whether you can solve his/her problem.

would call you not the competitor first if they thought you could meet their need.

What is the penalty for failing to stay front of mind?  Someone else gets the business.  How do you stay front of mind?  There are active methods like sales calls; and passive methods like advertising and marketing such as direct mail or newsletters.

Front of mind declines over time just like many things in nature.  When you leave the prospect or they leave your store you immediately begin to decline in their front of mind thinking.  So to bring your company back to front of mind you need regular touches.  One inexpensive step (and it shouldn’t be the end all-be all) is a newsletter.

I know what you’re thinking, that’s a big task.  MDC Group can help.  We offer services that will do all the “heavy lifting” when it comes to creating and sending newsletters.  An E-newsletter program for as little as $199.95/month (check-out www.enewslettersmadeeasy.com ).  Couple this with our guaranteed first page Google ad presence for less than $200 (check-out    http://johnsr.putsyouonpage1.com/25 ) and you can solve to big marketing needs for very little investment.  Give us a call at 1-888-851-0466 x 104.

A Promotion Worth Mentioning

As many of you may be aware yesterday Applebee’s ran a promotion to honor America’s Veterans and Active Duty Military by offering them a free meal.  First, as a Veteran myself I would like to say “Thank You” to Applebee’s for honoring my fellow service members in such a way.  While the gratitude is not why we did what we did, and continue to do what we do… It is always nice to feel appreciated and to know that it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Now because I’m fascinated with promotional marketing, let’s get to the real reason they did it.  I am man enough to admit that this promotion, while it served a good cause, was really a marketing ploy to increase sales and bottom line profits.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  They tapped into a very specific and very loyal niche market that can be summed up in the words of one soldier I met waiting in line that said… “There’s one thing a military man loves more than his freedom, and that’s free food.”

Let’s look at it for a minute.  I am sure there were some Vets or soldiers that came in alone to eat and rightfully so.  However, most of us didn’t. In fact, in my party alone there was a total of 8 people, 6 paying customers and 2 Vets.  And for the most part everyone I saw was in parties between 2 and 4 people.  Now since only your meal itself was free and not the tip, tax, or drink and throw in the dinners of the other people dinning with me they still got around $120.00 out of  us.  Which doesn’t really seem like much when you think about it.

But what I thought was interesting was the fact that by making this simple offer, Applebee’s was able to turn what typically would have been a normal Wednesday night into a business owners dream.  The restaurant industry is not so hot here in Florida right now… I have a younger brother who is a waiter and business is slow right now and has been for a while.

However, that was not the case last night at Applebee’s… The line was out the door and around the corner of the building.  People were standing outside in the cold and windy rain (in Florida 68 degrees is freezing to these people) for up to an hour just to be seated.  And for what really, to save $8.49 off a bill of $120.00.

As a business owner I would trade that all day long and twice on Saturday if you let me… Would you?  Sure they had expenses and marketing over head and blah, blah, blah… But bottom line is this We where there a total of 3 hours and the line never shrank, it never went away.  Our waiter told us the line had been there since 11:30 AM with the lunch rush and never died down since…

Sure, a few people left cause they didn’t want to wait in line but every Vet I know and have talked to across the country so far has told me the same thing… The lines were crazy and it took forever to get seated.  But you know what else, every person I saw walking out of that restaurant, pushing through the crowds to get out to the parking lot said it’s worth the wait.  Try the burger.  Best burger I ever had!

You would think that most of these people would be upset and complaining but they were happy to wait and fight the crowds and more importantly to brag about Applebee’s and how great the food and service was.

I give Applebee’s an A+ for this amazing promotion.  Any promotion that drives in that much business, has customers standing in line waiting to spend money with you, and leaves customers so happy that they are bragging about you to perfect strangers deserves some recognition.