by Gary Levitt
Nobody loves email marketing more than I do. But even I admit that within the grand taxonomy of consumer touchpoints, e-newsletters hold a sorry position.
They're the longwinded busybodies who never get invited to the cool parties. Porcelain-skinned print campaigns turn up their perky, sans-serif noses at e-newsletters' frumpy templates and canned copy. Super Bowl spots kick sand in e-newsletters' bespectacled faces.
Yet, these boxy embodiments of mediocrity move product and build loyalty. Marketing people are aware of this—they've proven it with charts and everything. You need an e-newsletter and you know it.
Before rolling up your sleeves, cranking up the REO Speedwagon, and cooking up some long-form creation-wizard-based love, please review the following six bromides from a recent how-to article phoned in by a reigning email-marketing magnate.
After each, I'll explain how to do the exact opposite so that you can avoid polluting the e-cosystem with mediocre e-newsletters.
1. Share expertise
Wrong—share ignorance. Consider the old Zen adage "the more I know, the less I know." It means the more expertise we have, the more we're dazzled by just how little we currently understand.
Pick something you're marvelously clueless about and confess the fact to your readers. They won't fault you for it—but they just might love you for it. As long as the topic you're "ignorant" about is something they didn't even know they were ignorant about until reading your enlightening e-newsletter.
2. Tell a success story
Wrong—tell a failure story. It humanizes your company and demonstrates your high standards. Example: a legendary 1960s ad for the Volkswagen Beetle showed just the car, with "Lemon" in bold type. The copy explained, "The chrome strip on the glove compartment was blemished and needs to be replaced."
While other car companies waxed self-congratulatory about success, Volkswagen cornered the market talking about failure. You can do the same with your e-newsletters—simply master the art of strategic self-criticism. It never fails.
3. Conduct a relevant interview
Wrong—conduct a gloriously irrelevant interview. Approaching a topic head-on can be a headache—especially if it's been done to death. Try a sideways approach. What can your design firm glean from interviewing a homeless man? How might a chat with a priest spice up your women's fashion newsletter? Why would a software developer pick a farmer's brain about emptying grain bins into semi trailers?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm willing to read your e-newsletter to find out!
4. Take an in-depth look at a product or service you offer
Wrong—take an in-depth look at a product or service you refuse to offer. As the visionaries of 37signals say in Getting Real (sort of a Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the digital generation), "do less than your competitors in order to beat them."
Embrace l'esprit du moment by poking satirical fun at the superfluous features common to your industry. Waving the simplicity banner while it's still in vogue is smart—and your next e-newsletter is a smart place to wave it.
5. Springboard off of current events
Wrong—springboard off of that which is timeless. Your readers are suffering from information overload—spare them the latest trope on gas prices, politics and Paris Hilton. Realize that the guys reading your scrap metal e-newsletter probably don't give a rat's ass that it's Halloween.
And while you're at it, throw away the springboard. Relying on convoluted conversation-starters is a milquetoast way to win friends and influence people—both in life and in e-newsletters.
6. Ask your readers
Wrong—listen to readers. In the words of Louis Armstrong, "if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." Same wisdom applies to knowing the hearts of your readers. Get in sync with customers' needs by observing their riffs in natural online habitats built around your company. Replace pre-fab surveys with improvised forums. The intuition you gain will free you up to follow the inspiration of the moment and hit the high notes needed to create authentic brand loyalty.
* * *
Rebelling against clichés will keep your customers reading, and it'll keep you writing—without falling asleep. This matters. Readers can sense when you're just going through the motions. That can't be good for your brand, regardless of what the stats say.
So ask yourself: Am I excited about my e-newsletter? Does it express my voice and vision? Did I have fun creating it? If you have to ignore an army of email experts' advice (including mine) to get to where you can answer "yes" to those questions, so be it. That's called employing the virtues of e-newsletter disobedience.
Super Bowl commercials, watch out!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Five Steps to Building Brand Equity for the Small Business
by Mike O'Toole
Instinctively, every small business owner understands the importance of brand equity, even if they may not be able to define the idea. Marketing-speak aside, brand equity is how your customer recognizes why you are different and better than the alternative.
Brand equity is built on that customer's direct experience with your product or service. This experience, repeated over time, creates equity or value in your brand. And it serves as a shorthand in the buyer's mind that separates you from everyone else.
Brand equity is what creates loyalty that carries beyond price or the occasional product or service bump in the road. It is the quality that motivates your customers to recommend their friends or colleagues to you.
Everyone wants brand equity. But building it, when you are more likely to qualify for the Inc. 500 rather than the Fortune 500, can be a puzzle. Particularly when the role models for brand equity are global icons like Coca Cola, Volvo, or Sony—hardly your peer set.
The good news is that the path to building brand equity is clear. Here are six simple steps you can take to get started:
1. Clarify your position
The first step to building brand equity is to define your positioning: the single thing your company stands for to your customers. Single is the operative word here. Good positioning forces hard choices.
To define your brand position, get the key leaders in your company together. Decide what makes you different and better than your competition. This might sound blindingly obvious, but most small businesses are too busy responding to customers or making payroll to do a lot of introspection.
You don't need an agency or consultant to get started. There are a couple of good exercises out there that you can do on your own. A simple one that I like is the Positioning XYZs:
"We are the only X that solves Y problem in Z unique way."
Where...
* X is the category of the company, product, or service or other offering you've chosen to own.
* Y is the unmet need of your target audience.
* Z is the differentiation, advantage, or key positive distinction you have over your competition.
2. Tell your story
Clear positioning is critical, but positioning statements are internal touchstones, not external expressions. Your next job is to make it interesting, to imbue the rational positioning with emotion.
All brands are stories, and a good way to get started is to document and share your best corporate stories: the founding insight of the company, the times you went to extraordinary lengths to take care of a customer, or the background behind the big product breakthrough.
The good news is that with ubiquitous broadband access and Web-based applications, it is within every company's grasp to share these stories more broadly through rich-media video and audio.
B.Good (www.bgood.com), a small restaurant chain in Boston, has done this well. It's a burger joint that promises "real food," positioning itself against the typical fast-food burger and experience. The real food story begins with the stories of the "real people," the founders whose corporate values are based on their experiences growing up at their uncle's restaurant. You're reminded of these stories when you're in the restaurant or checking store hours online.
3. Bring it to life
Once you have the story, you need to bring it to life. Make sure that the way your company looks and feels to the outside world matches that truth. This leads to questions about your corporate identity: Do the basics (starting with your name and logo) make the impression you want? And your broader system for communicating to the market: Web site, brochures, your retail environment.
A client of mine talked about his Web site as a "corporate veil" that obscured what made the company special. Does your corporate identity reveal the best truth about your business, or does it hide it?
4. Start building brand before they buy
Think beyond the transaction. Brands begin at the transaction level, but the brand experience goes much deeper. The opportunity to create a brand impression starts long before the buying decision. The principle is a simple one: Give away an artifact of your brand for free. In the professional services world, this means a taste of your service or your intellectual property. Here are two creative examples:
Igor (www.igorinternational.com) is a naming consultancy based in San Francisco. It has built a methodology—and a client list that rivals those of much-larger branding agencies. That methodology is laid bare in a 100-page guide to naming that it gives away—without any registration requirements—on its Web site.
This move is both generous, in the spirit of Web content "wanting to be free," and also incredibly shrewd. The naming guide is rich, detailed, and outlines a very clear process for naming. Igor understands that giving away IP (intellectual property) doesn't cost it business—but it is its lead business generator.
It doesn't have to be just IP. Peet's (www.peets.com), the coffee retailer, allows customers to send their friends an "eCup," an email redeemable for a free cup of coffee. This is an ingenious way to enable the fiercely loyal customers of Peet's to promote the brand themselves.
5. Measure your efforts
Here are a few direct ways to measure the progress of your brand:
* Ask your customers. Survey a subset of customers, prospective customers, and (ideally) people who chose a competitor over you. You'll be surprised at how candid people will be about your strengths—and your weaknesses. Make sure you ask the most important question in any customer research: Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague? Research (check out www.netpromoter.com) has shown that the willingness to recommend is the most important indicator of brand health. This research can be done quite cheaply online, using free or near-free tools like KeySurvey (www.keysurvey.com) or SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com).
* Check your search rankings. I don't know all of what Igor measures, but I do know it fares very well in what is perhaps the most important measure of them all: organic search results. Type "product naming" on Google, and chances are you'll see Igor come up in the top three listings (the earned ones in the middle, not the paid ones on the top or side).
* Monitor the social media conversation. In most categories, consumers are holding a very active and candid conversation about the brands they love and hate. Check out what they're saying about you in blogs, bulletin boards, and vendor-rating Web sites (www.technorati.com or www.yelp.com are good places to start).
* * *
At the end of the day, brand value is tangible. If you're skeptical, take a look at Interbrand's annual survey of the world's most valuable brands.
These companies start with a clear, focused position in the market. They have built a special relationship with customers that extends far beyond the product. And they exercise a fanatical discipline in how that brand position is communicated in the market.
These are practices you don't need a billion dollar marketing budget to emulate. In fact, you can start today.
Instinctively, every small business owner understands the importance of brand equity, even if they may not be able to define the idea. Marketing-speak aside, brand equity is how your customer recognizes why you are different and better than the alternative.
Brand equity is built on that customer's direct experience with your product or service. This experience, repeated over time, creates equity or value in your brand. And it serves as a shorthand in the buyer's mind that separates you from everyone else.
Brand equity is what creates loyalty that carries beyond price or the occasional product or service bump in the road. It is the quality that motivates your customers to recommend their friends or colleagues to you.
Everyone wants brand equity. But building it, when you are more likely to qualify for the Inc. 500 rather than the Fortune 500, can be a puzzle. Particularly when the role models for brand equity are global icons like Coca Cola, Volvo, or Sony—hardly your peer set.
The good news is that the path to building brand equity is clear. Here are six simple steps you can take to get started:
1. Clarify your position
The first step to building brand equity is to define your positioning: the single thing your company stands for to your customers. Single is the operative word here. Good positioning forces hard choices.
To define your brand position, get the key leaders in your company together. Decide what makes you different and better than your competition. This might sound blindingly obvious, but most small businesses are too busy responding to customers or making payroll to do a lot of introspection.
You don't need an agency or consultant to get started. There are a couple of good exercises out there that you can do on your own. A simple one that I like is the Positioning XYZs:
"We are the only X that solves Y problem in Z unique way."
Where...
* X is the category of the company, product, or service or other offering you've chosen to own.
* Y is the unmet need of your target audience.
* Z is the differentiation, advantage, or key positive distinction you have over your competition.
2. Tell your story
Clear positioning is critical, but positioning statements are internal touchstones, not external expressions. Your next job is to make it interesting, to imbue the rational positioning with emotion.
All brands are stories, and a good way to get started is to document and share your best corporate stories: the founding insight of the company, the times you went to extraordinary lengths to take care of a customer, or the background behind the big product breakthrough.
The good news is that with ubiquitous broadband access and Web-based applications, it is within every company's grasp to share these stories more broadly through rich-media video and audio.
B.Good (www.bgood.com), a small restaurant chain in Boston, has done this well. It's a burger joint that promises "real food," positioning itself against the typical fast-food burger and experience. The real food story begins with the stories of the "real people," the founders whose corporate values are based on their experiences growing up at their uncle's restaurant. You're reminded of these stories when you're in the restaurant or checking store hours online.
3. Bring it to life
Once you have the story, you need to bring it to life. Make sure that the way your company looks and feels to the outside world matches that truth. This leads to questions about your corporate identity: Do the basics (starting with your name and logo) make the impression you want? And your broader system for communicating to the market: Web site, brochures, your retail environment.
A client of mine talked about his Web site as a "corporate veil" that obscured what made the company special. Does your corporate identity reveal the best truth about your business, or does it hide it?
4. Start building brand before they buy
Think beyond the transaction. Brands begin at the transaction level, but the brand experience goes much deeper. The opportunity to create a brand impression starts long before the buying decision. The principle is a simple one: Give away an artifact of your brand for free. In the professional services world, this means a taste of your service or your intellectual property. Here are two creative examples:
Igor (www.igorinternational.com) is a naming consultancy based in San Francisco. It has built a methodology—and a client list that rivals those of much-larger branding agencies. That methodology is laid bare in a 100-page guide to naming that it gives away—without any registration requirements—on its Web site.
This move is both generous, in the spirit of Web content "wanting to be free," and also incredibly shrewd. The naming guide is rich, detailed, and outlines a very clear process for naming. Igor understands that giving away IP (intellectual property) doesn't cost it business—but it is its lead business generator.
It doesn't have to be just IP. Peet's (www.peets.com), the coffee retailer, allows customers to send their friends an "eCup," an email redeemable for a free cup of coffee. This is an ingenious way to enable the fiercely loyal customers of Peet's to promote the brand themselves.
5. Measure your efforts
Here are a few direct ways to measure the progress of your brand:
* Ask your customers. Survey a subset of customers, prospective customers, and (ideally) people who chose a competitor over you. You'll be surprised at how candid people will be about your strengths—and your weaknesses. Make sure you ask the most important question in any customer research: Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague? Research (check out www.netpromoter.com) has shown that the willingness to recommend is the most important indicator of brand health. This research can be done quite cheaply online, using free or near-free tools like KeySurvey (www.keysurvey.com) or SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com).
* Check your search rankings. I don't know all of what Igor measures, but I do know it fares very well in what is perhaps the most important measure of them all: organic search results. Type "product naming" on Google, and chances are you'll see Igor come up in the top three listings (the earned ones in the middle, not the paid ones on the top or side).
* Monitor the social media conversation. In most categories, consumers are holding a very active and candid conversation about the brands they love and hate. Check out what they're saying about you in blogs, bulletin boards, and vendor-rating Web sites (www.technorati.com or www.yelp.com are good places to start).
* * *
At the end of the day, brand value is tangible. If you're skeptical, take a look at Interbrand's annual survey of the world's most valuable brands.
These companies start with a clear, focused position in the market. They have built a special relationship with customers that extends far beyond the product. And they exercise a fanatical discipline in how that brand position is communicated in the market.
These are practices you don't need a billion dollar marketing budget to emulate. In fact, you can start today.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Email Hygiene: Six Ways to Polish Your List
by Eric Groves
Fifty million people changed their email address last year. How many of those old addresses are on your email list right now?
You already know the importance of a permission-based email list. You even practice list segmentation to improve the relevance of the emails you send to your customers and prospects.
But how much time do you devote to cleaning your email list? If your email hygiene is lax, you're greatly limiting the success of your campaigns.
An up-to-date, clean email list can have a big impact on your delivery, open, and click-through rates, not to mention your ongoing compliance with CAN-SPAM laws.
Permission is perishable. Just because you received permission to send emails to a prospect three or six months ago doesn't mean they're still interested—especially if you're an infrequent emailer.
Act quickly when you receive permission to ensure that your email recipients remember you and your service. The older your list, the more likely it needs a checkup.
Has it been a while since your last cleaning? Follow these six steps to polish up your email list:
1. Analyze bounce-backs
After every email campaign you send, analyze the bounce-backs you receive. Identify the different reasons for the bounce to determine next steps (Was your email was blocked? Is the recipient is no longer at that address?). Remove hard bounces from your list. This is also a great way to identify and correct obvious typos in your list (e.g., ".con" instead of ".com").
2. Manage your unsubscribe requests
If you use an email marketing service with automatic unsubscribe, this step is handled for you. If not, you must do this yourself—and not only because you want to maintain a clean list: It's required by law.
3. Monitor your "reply to" address
Many recipients are fearful of using the unsubscribe function as it has been used by spammers as a way of verifying an address rather than as a legitimate unsubscribe. So, be aware of unsubscribe requests coming to your "reply to" address and permanently remove those unsubscribers' addresses.
4. Examine your open and click-through rates
You may think your email list is pretty clean, but look closer. Have your open rates decreased over the past six months or year? Are your click-throughs on the decline?
Over time, people can lose interest in a specific product or service, or they might move or change jobs and no longer require your service, but they haven't taken the step to unsubscribe. These subscribers may meet the requirements of permission-based email, but in reality they're just clogging up your list.
If you cannot re-engage them, it's best to simply remove them and move on.
5. Re-engage inactive list members
Segment your members who haven't opened your emails for the past six months and create some special communications just for them with the goal of getting them to re-engage and open your emails. If that doesn't work, remove them.
Clearly, they aren't interested; and your time is better spent communicating with people who are interested.
6. Rebuild your list the right way
As you weed out the bad emails and unsubscribes, you'll of course want to rebuild your list with new, interested subscribers. It's imperative to grow your list the right way, with permission-based emails.
Make it easy for interested parties to opt in wherever they come in contact with you, your brand, or service—such as on your Web site, in your email signature, at your physical store, etc. It's also a great idea to give them options for the types of communications they want to receive from you (e.g., newsletters, promotions, coupons) and how often (e.g., weekly, monthly).
* * *
If you haven't cleaned up your list in a while, the first time will be a little challenging; but afterward, cleaning your email list should be a simple matter of maintenance. Set aside some time following each campaign or just once a month to analyze your unsubscribes, open rates, bounce-backs, etc., and toss the bad emails out.
Your sparkling clean email list may shrink a bit, but it will outperform your big, old, messy list any day.
Eric Groves is senior vice-president, worldwide strategy & market development, at Constant Contact
Fifty million people changed their email address last year. How many of those old addresses are on your email list right now?
You already know the importance of a permission-based email list. You even practice list segmentation to improve the relevance of the emails you send to your customers and prospects.
But how much time do you devote to cleaning your email list? If your email hygiene is lax, you're greatly limiting the success of your campaigns.
An up-to-date, clean email list can have a big impact on your delivery, open, and click-through rates, not to mention your ongoing compliance with CAN-SPAM laws.
Permission is perishable. Just because you received permission to send emails to a prospect three or six months ago doesn't mean they're still interested—especially if you're an infrequent emailer.
Act quickly when you receive permission to ensure that your email recipients remember you and your service. The older your list, the more likely it needs a checkup.
Has it been a while since your last cleaning? Follow these six steps to polish up your email list:
1. Analyze bounce-backs
After every email campaign you send, analyze the bounce-backs you receive. Identify the different reasons for the bounce to determine next steps (Was your email was blocked? Is the recipient is no longer at that address?). Remove hard bounces from your list. This is also a great way to identify and correct obvious typos in your list (e.g., ".con" instead of ".com").
2. Manage your unsubscribe requests
If you use an email marketing service with automatic unsubscribe, this step is handled for you. If not, you must do this yourself—and not only because you want to maintain a clean list: It's required by law.
3. Monitor your "reply to" address
Many recipients are fearful of using the unsubscribe function as it has been used by spammers as a way of verifying an address rather than as a legitimate unsubscribe. So, be aware of unsubscribe requests coming to your "reply to" address and permanently remove those unsubscribers' addresses.
4. Examine your open and click-through rates
You may think your email list is pretty clean, but look closer. Have your open rates decreased over the past six months or year? Are your click-throughs on the decline?
Over time, people can lose interest in a specific product or service, or they might move or change jobs and no longer require your service, but they haven't taken the step to unsubscribe. These subscribers may meet the requirements of permission-based email, but in reality they're just clogging up your list.
If you cannot re-engage them, it's best to simply remove them and move on.
5. Re-engage inactive list members
Segment your members who haven't opened your emails for the past six months and create some special communications just for them with the goal of getting them to re-engage and open your emails. If that doesn't work, remove them.
Clearly, they aren't interested; and your time is better spent communicating with people who are interested.
6. Rebuild your list the right way
As you weed out the bad emails and unsubscribes, you'll of course want to rebuild your list with new, interested subscribers. It's imperative to grow your list the right way, with permission-based emails.
Make it easy for interested parties to opt in wherever they come in contact with you, your brand, or service—such as on your Web site, in your email signature, at your physical store, etc. It's also a great idea to give them options for the types of communications they want to receive from you (e.g., newsletters, promotions, coupons) and how often (e.g., weekly, monthly).
* * *
If you haven't cleaned up your list in a while, the first time will be a little challenging; but afterward, cleaning your email list should be a simple matter of maintenance. Set aside some time following each campaign or just once a month to analyze your unsubscribes, open rates, bounce-backs, etc., and toss the bad emails out.
Your sparkling clean email list may shrink a bit, but it will outperform your big, old, messy list any day.
Eric Groves is senior vice-president, worldwide strategy & market development, at Constant Contact
5 ways to increase deliverability
By Karen J. Bannan
Story posted: July 31, 2008 - 3:37 pm EDT
This week e-mail services company Return Path released its Q2 2008 Reputation Benchmark Report. The results highlight the fact that for many b-to-b marketers, deliverability may still be an issue. According to the report, e-mails sent from “legitimate” e-mail servers averaged a delivery rate of 56%; 20% were rejected and 8% went into some type of filter. The rest—16%—were bounces. In other words, almost half of the time, e-mail marketers’ messages aren’t getting through. There are ways to increase deliverability, though, according to George Bilbrey, Return Path’s general manager of delivery assurance. Here are five to consider:
1) Make sure your e-mail server—or your ESP’s—is configured correctly. If you maintain your own e-mail server, it’s crucial that it’s set up correctly. If not, Bilbrey said, you run the risk of being classified as an illegitimate server. This means making sure your reverse DNS settings—which map an IP address to a host name—are correct and use your domain name. “You don’t want to have a big string of numbers. You want it to say, ‘mail.domainname.com,’ ” he added.
2) Keep your unknown user rate down. When you send out an e-mail to someone who doesn’t exist, the ISP or server that’s handling that e-mail keeps track of that delivery attempt. Log too many of those attempts and you risk being placed on a black list or blocked at the server level. If that happens, none of your e-mails to that domain or ISP will get through. This can happen when e-mail recipients change jobs or don’t log in to their e-mail address frequently. Your best bet, Bilbrey said, is to check for unknown users after every mailing and remove them immediately. Your IT person or ESP should be able to provide you with a list of bounced e-mail addresses and help you remove them.
3) Track your reputation. Companies such as Return Path track e-mail senders’ reputations based it on a variety of information such as inclusion on black lists, complaint rates and e-mail volume. Keeping track of your score will give you an idea of your deliverability rates because reputation scores tend to correlate with deliverability, Bilbrey said. “It’s definitely a case of the higher the score, the higher the deliverability,” he said. You don’t need to subscribe to a service to check on your reputation. Return Path provides a free service at senderscore.org, for example.
4) E-mail often. If you don’t e-mail your list often enough, e-mail addresses can become stale. This means you may end up with more undeliverable messages than you would like. In addition, even if your messages do get through, recipients may forget that they signed up for your messages and report you as a spammer. The fix, Bilbrey said, is to make sure you reach out to your list at least quarterly, although monthly is even better. “With triggered events, the condition that triggers an e-mail may never occur,” he said. “It’s good to send out quarterly messages to weed out bad addresses right away.”
5) Don’t get caught in a spam trap. ISPs and large domain holders may set up spam traps, placing e-mail addresses that don’t belong to anyone on their home page or around the Web to thwart those spammers engaged in e-mail harvesting. You can end up sending to one of these addresses if someone maliciously signs one of these addresses up for your list or if a legitimate e-mail address is entered incorrectly. You have two ways of preventing this problem, Bilbrey said. The first is to implement a double opt-in so you can verify every address before it goes on your list. The second is to e-mail double opt-in e-mail messages from a separate domain as well as a separate IP address. “If you do hit a spam trap and get on a black list, you can go to the ISP or the domain owner and say, ‘This is my confirmed opt-in welcome stream. I can’t control what people input. That’s why I have a double opt-in in place,’ ” he said. “The ISP sees you’re trying to do the right thing and, as long as you provide some evidence that that’s what you’re doing, you won’t have a problem getting off the black list and at the same time, the rest of your e-mail list is safe.”
Story posted: July 31, 2008 - 3:37 pm EDT
This week e-mail services company Return Path released its Q2 2008 Reputation Benchmark Report. The results highlight the fact that for many b-to-b marketers, deliverability may still be an issue. According to the report, e-mails sent from “legitimate” e-mail servers averaged a delivery rate of 56%; 20% were rejected and 8% went into some type of filter. The rest—16%—were bounces. In other words, almost half of the time, e-mail marketers’ messages aren’t getting through. There are ways to increase deliverability, though, according to George Bilbrey, Return Path’s general manager of delivery assurance. Here are five to consider:
1) Make sure your e-mail server—or your ESP’s—is configured correctly. If you maintain your own e-mail server, it’s crucial that it’s set up correctly. If not, Bilbrey said, you run the risk of being classified as an illegitimate server. This means making sure your reverse DNS settings—which map an IP address to a host name—are correct and use your domain name. “You don’t want to have a big string of numbers. You want it to say, ‘mail.domainname.com,’ ” he added.
2) Keep your unknown user rate down. When you send out an e-mail to someone who doesn’t exist, the ISP or server that’s handling that e-mail keeps track of that delivery attempt. Log too many of those attempts and you risk being placed on a black list or blocked at the server level. If that happens, none of your e-mails to that domain or ISP will get through. This can happen when e-mail recipients change jobs or don’t log in to their e-mail address frequently. Your best bet, Bilbrey said, is to check for unknown users after every mailing and remove them immediately. Your IT person or ESP should be able to provide you with a list of bounced e-mail addresses and help you remove them.
3) Track your reputation. Companies such as Return Path track e-mail senders’ reputations based it on a variety of information such as inclusion on black lists, complaint rates and e-mail volume. Keeping track of your score will give you an idea of your deliverability rates because reputation scores tend to correlate with deliverability, Bilbrey said. “It’s definitely a case of the higher the score, the higher the deliverability,” he said. You don’t need to subscribe to a service to check on your reputation. Return Path provides a free service at senderscore.org, for example.
4) E-mail often. If you don’t e-mail your list often enough, e-mail addresses can become stale. This means you may end up with more undeliverable messages than you would like. In addition, even if your messages do get through, recipients may forget that they signed up for your messages and report you as a spammer. The fix, Bilbrey said, is to make sure you reach out to your list at least quarterly, although monthly is even better. “With triggered events, the condition that triggers an e-mail may never occur,” he said. “It’s good to send out quarterly messages to weed out bad addresses right away.”
5) Don’t get caught in a spam trap. ISPs and large domain holders may set up spam traps, placing e-mail addresses that don’t belong to anyone on their home page or around the Web to thwart those spammers engaged in e-mail harvesting. You can end up sending to one of these addresses if someone maliciously signs one of these addresses up for your list or if a legitimate e-mail address is entered incorrectly. You have two ways of preventing this problem, Bilbrey said. The first is to implement a double opt-in so you can verify every address before it goes on your list. The second is to e-mail double opt-in e-mail messages from a separate domain as well as a separate IP address. “If you do hit a spam trap and get on a black list, you can go to the ISP or the domain owner and say, ‘This is my confirmed opt-in welcome stream. I can’t control what people input. That’s why I have a double opt-in in place,’ ” he said. “The ISP sees you’re trying to do the right thing and, as long as you provide some evidence that that’s what you’re doing, you won’t have a problem getting off the black list and at the same time, the rest of your e-mail list is safe.”
How to Avoid TMI in Email: When Less Is More
by Josh Nason
You have them dead in your sights. They're eager to sign up for your email list. (Yeah, they actually want to get information from you!) The user is on your site and that all-important Subscribe click is made. You are seconds away from having another prospect to market to, and then... they stop.
They go away, never to return because they were turned off. Why? What happened?
It's an ill that has plagued marketers for years. Heck, even I had it in my former life as a sports marketer. It's called TMI-tis, short for Too Much Information-itis. You're not alone, however, so don't fear. Read on for help in curing your email marketing ills.
It starts simply. You're setting up fields for your email signup form and instead of grabbing just the basics for information, you start to wander. What if I got all the information I want up front? That would save me so much time! Who cares about emailing them at that point? I'll have it all! Bwahahahaha!
So then it begins: name, address, home number, work number, mobile number, bag phone number, AOL IM, Yahoo IM, favorite band, favorite station, favorite team. Sure, you don't make it required that all the fields are filled in, but while they're there why not offer it, right?
All they wanted was to supply you with was an email address, but instead the end users are looking at a form worthy of governmental consideration.
Eventually, the process you create gets so bad that the person attempting to sign up can't even find where to enter in an email address, which was the only reason they clicked to begin with. They get frustrated, the browser window closes, and within seconds you've lost a potential addition to your list because you came down with TMI-tis: You got greedy.
Let's get to the root of what you're trying to do: collect emails from someone who wants to stay in contact with your company or client. They've attempted to engage you by opting to give you their address, so you've already achieved your goal. Stop right there.
While it's tempting to assume that they'll be willing to give you every possible bit of information while they're at this critical juncture, ask yourself what you're going to do with that information when you get it. Is there an immediate purpose and plan, or are you getting it "just because"? If you hesitate with answering this question at all, then you should be asking just the basics: first/last name, email and zip code. This allows to you know who the email owner is, how to contact them, and where they're from.
However, if you really need that info right away, I'd suggest going about it a different way.
Most times, you will probably get those highly coveted demographics and psychographics just by smart marketing. Try a targeted data-collection initiative to your list, securing information for the chance to win something of high value. You could do a direct sales campaign, offering a specific product in a specific window of time that would achieve your data collection goal. Or you could just practice great email marketing and entice them to provide information in other legitimate ways.
A few examples:
* Sending out timely newsletters with worthwhile and engaging content that builds trust. If users trust the source, they will be more likely to supply information for a contest or some other sort of data-collection drive.
* Doing a "recommend-a-friend" push whereby you award prizes for the most people recommended who sign up for the marketer's list. On the sign-up landing page, ask the initial user (the "recommender") for the rest of their info. If they're engaged in asking others to sign up and there's a trust already established, this might be a chance to get them if you feel the timing is right.
* Surveys: If you can create a very short-and-sweet survey asking some other important information, you can probably also get your additional demo information here.
Ultimately, there are ways to get what you want without overwhelming end users and losing them before they bite the hook. Don't overcomplicate the process... just do what you do best!
A good rule of thumb is to put yourself in the slightly-worn out seat of the end user. You're a busy person just like your potential subscribers. If you were sitting in front of a computer and signing up for an email list, what would you want your user experience to be like? Signing up to receive emails shouldn't be an uncomfortable and lengthy process.
A few other thoughts on the email-signup process:
* Please, please, please don't make people choose a username/password to get emails. I subscribe to a few arena mailing lists to get information on concerts, and two of them required me to create a username/password. Why? I'm not that concerned about someone hacking into my account and changing my music preferences from Tool to Toby Keith, so why should they? It's email, not national security.
* Always use the double-opt-in process. Keep your lists legit and clean. This is something people are now accustomed to doing, so don't look it as a needless extra step on their behalf.
* Keep them on your site during the signup process. I cannot stand it that when I'm attempting to sign up for a list, a non-branded window pops up for me to fill in. Any email marketing company worth its salt should able to provide you, the marketer, with HTML code that you can format into your own site, so that users don't have jump to a stock order-form landing page.
My marketing friends, the golden rule with avoiding TMI-tis is to keep it simple. Do whatever it takes to get subscribers in your database with as little difficulty as possible. Then, get the rest of the information the old-fashioned way: by providing a service they absolutely have to have.
You have them dead in your sights. They're eager to sign up for your email list. (Yeah, they actually want to get information from you!) The user is on your site and that all-important Subscribe click is made. You are seconds away from having another prospect to market to, and then... they stop.
They go away, never to return because they were turned off. Why? What happened?
It's an ill that has plagued marketers for years. Heck, even I had it in my former life as a sports marketer. It's called TMI-tis, short for Too Much Information-itis. You're not alone, however, so don't fear. Read on for help in curing your email marketing ills.
It starts simply. You're setting up fields for your email signup form and instead of grabbing just the basics for information, you start to wander. What if I got all the information I want up front? That would save me so much time! Who cares about emailing them at that point? I'll have it all! Bwahahahaha!
So then it begins: name, address, home number, work number, mobile number, bag phone number, AOL IM, Yahoo IM, favorite band, favorite station, favorite team. Sure, you don't make it required that all the fields are filled in, but while they're there why not offer it, right?
All they wanted was to supply you with was an email address, but instead the end users are looking at a form worthy of governmental consideration.
Eventually, the process you create gets so bad that the person attempting to sign up can't even find where to enter in an email address, which was the only reason they clicked to begin with. They get frustrated, the browser window closes, and within seconds you've lost a potential addition to your list because you came down with TMI-tis: You got greedy.
Let's get to the root of what you're trying to do: collect emails from someone who wants to stay in contact with your company or client. They've attempted to engage you by opting to give you their address, so you've already achieved your goal. Stop right there.
While it's tempting to assume that they'll be willing to give you every possible bit of information while they're at this critical juncture, ask yourself what you're going to do with that information when you get it. Is there an immediate purpose and plan, or are you getting it "just because"? If you hesitate with answering this question at all, then you should be asking just the basics: first/last name, email and zip code. This allows to you know who the email owner is, how to contact them, and where they're from.
However, if you really need that info right away, I'd suggest going about it a different way.
Most times, you will probably get those highly coveted demographics and psychographics just by smart marketing. Try a targeted data-collection initiative to your list, securing information for the chance to win something of high value. You could do a direct sales campaign, offering a specific product in a specific window of time that would achieve your data collection goal. Or you could just practice great email marketing and entice them to provide information in other legitimate ways.
A few examples:
* Sending out timely newsletters with worthwhile and engaging content that builds trust. If users trust the source, they will be more likely to supply information for a contest or some other sort of data-collection drive.
* Doing a "recommend-a-friend" push whereby you award prizes for the most people recommended who sign up for the marketer's list. On the sign-up landing page, ask the initial user (the "recommender") for the rest of their info. If they're engaged in asking others to sign up and there's a trust already established, this might be a chance to get them if you feel the timing is right.
* Surveys: If you can create a very short-and-sweet survey asking some other important information, you can probably also get your additional demo information here.
Ultimately, there are ways to get what you want without overwhelming end users and losing them before they bite the hook. Don't overcomplicate the process... just do what you do best!
A good rule of thumb is to put yourself in the slightly-worn out seat of the end user. You're a busy person just like your potential subscribers. If you were sitting in front of a computer and signing up for an email list, what would you want your user experience to be like? Signing up to receive emails shouldn't be an uncomfortable and lengthy process.
A few other thoughts on the email-signup process:
* Please, please, please don't make people choose a username/password to get emails. I subscribe to a few arena mailing lists to get information on concerts, and two of them required me to create a username/password. Why? I'm not that concerned about someone hacking into my account and changing my music preferences from Tool to Toby Keith, so why should they? It's email, not national security.
* Always use the double-opt-in process. Keep your lists legit and clean. This is something people are now accustomed to doing, so don't look it as a needless extra step on their behalf.
* Keep them on your site during the signup process. I cannot stand it that when I'm attempting to sign up for a list, a non-branded window pops up for me to fill in. Any email marketing company worth its salt should able to provide you, the marketer, with HTML code that you can format into your own site, so that users don't have jump to a stock order-form landing page.
My marketing friends, the golden rule with avoiding TMI-tis is to keep it simple. Do whatever it takes to get subscribers in your database with as little difficulty as possible. Then, get the rest of the information the old-fashioned way: by providing a service they absolutely have to have.
Minimize List Churn by Reducing Unsubscribes
by Loren McDonald
Reducing the number of people who unsubscribe from your mailing list is one of the key ways to minimize list churn and in turn make it easier to grow your list.
That doesn't mean you make it harder for people to leave, however. Instead, learn why people leave, offer them other ways to remain in the relationship, and make the process a great customer experience.
Unsubscribes: A Fact of List Life
Email consumers control their destiny—choosing when to opt in and when to say adios. But, unsubscribes can also be a good thing. The alternative is a poor brand experience for the subscriber and spam complaints or deadwood on your list that masks true performance.
Make the process easy. You'll minimize spam complaints and likely retain the customer relationship through another channel.
Why People Unsubscribe
According to JupiterResearch:
1. 53 percent say they unsubscribe when the content is irrelevant.
2. 40 percent say they unsubscribe when email is sent too often.
How to Optimize the Unsubscribe Process
1. Make the unsubscribe and alternatives links stand out in your emails
Display a clearly labeled unsubscribe link prominently in your email message, in an easy-to-read font size, style, and color that match your email design. Don't try to hide it by blending it in with the background color, shrinking the type size, or moving it around each time.
Put it in both your primary or secondary navigation below the fold and near the bottom or in your email administration area if you have one. However, if you have a high spam-complaint rate, add it to the very top of your emails.
2. Deploy a combination unsubscribe/preference page
Create a well-designed, branded page that explains exactly how to unsubscribe, thanks the user for his/her patronage, and offers alternatives to unsubscribing but completes the unsubscribe process quickly for those who really do want to leave.
Test it for ease of use. Check it and the email unsubscribe link regularly to be sure they're working correctly.
A. Unsubscribe function
This page should make it easy and obvious how to unsubscribe. In fact, a ruling in May by the Federal Trade Commission prohibits requiring logins or passwords, surveys, or the viewing of offers to complete the unsubscribe. The entering of an email address is the only requirement allowed.
Pass the subscribers' email address and preferences through to this unsubscribe page. They won't have to enter any information; they'll merely check or uncheck boxes or select radio buttons.
After completing the unsubscribe or preference changes, launch a thank-you page that confirms the action(s) and again offers ways to continue the relationship via other channels, such as RSS or catalogs.
B. Suggested alternatives
Many of your subscribers who click the unsubscribe link just want some aspect of the relationship to change.
Retain these subscribers with an unsubscribe/preference page that allows them both to change preferences and to opt out. Include these alternatives:
* Changing their email address. Best practice: To reduce mistakes, load the form with the address they used to subscribe.
* Changing the frequency. Offer some appropriate options, such as a weekly or monthly digest of daily or weekly messages.
* Changing the format. Let users switch from plain text to HTML or vice versa, as well as a "mobile" version—a shortened HTML format minus images—if you offer it.
* Changing the channel. Show users how and where to sign up for your RSS feed(s), SMS messaging, or direct mail, if you offer them.
* Changing their profile or preferences. People's needs and interests change over time. Present their profile/preferences this page or link to your preference page.
* Subscribing to your other lists/emails. You may have other emails or newsletters of more relevance to the subscriber. Present a list (with descriptions, if possible) of the emails you offer and highlight those they are currently receiving.
C. Alternate contacts
Always provide your customer-service phone number and email and postal addresses in case the subscriber has problems, such as when a page is not loading or in case of error messages.
D. Exit survey
Try to capture why subscribers are opting out. Use radio buttons listing the top five or so reasons you know why people are unsubscribing. Then, provide a comment box for people to elaborate or list other reasons, and study what they say. Make it clear the survey is optional.
E. Timing statement if the unsubscribe is not immediate
Consumers expect your emails to stop as soon as they unsubscribe, even though in the United States the CAN-SPAM Act allows up to 10 days to remove someone from a list. If, for whatever reason, it takes you several days to process an unsubscribe, include a statement such as the following: "When unsubscribing, there may be a delay of up to seven days. We apologize in advance if you receive further emails during this period."
Other Best Practices
* Launch a thank-you page that confirms the actions the subscriber took and thanks that person.
* Track your unsubscribe rate over several campaigns to spot trends, correlate with spam complaints, and analyze to find patterns.
* Test different unsubscribe formats to find one that works best.
* Minimize the need for unsubscribing by optimizing your opt-in procedure and following email best practices throughout your relationship.
Reducing the number of people who unsubscribe from your mailing list is one of the key ways to minimize list churn and in turn make it easier to grow your list.
That doesn't mean you make it harder for people to leave, however. Instead, learn why people leave, offer them other ways to remain in the relationship, and make the process a great customer experience.
Unsubscribes: A Fact of List Life
Email consumers control their destiny—choosing when to opt in and when to say adios. But, unsubscribes can also be a good thing. The alternative is a poor brand experience for the subscriber and spam complaints or deadwood on your list that masks true performance.
Make the process easy. You'll minimize spam complaints and likely retain the customer relationship through another channel.
Why People Unsubscribe
According to JupiterResearch:
1. 53 percent say they unsubscribe when the content is irrelevant.
2. 40 percent say they unsubscribe when email is sent too often.
How to Optimize the Unsubscribe Process
1. Make the unsubscribe and alternatives links stand out in your emails
Display a clearly labeled unsubscribe link prominently in your email message, in an easy-to-read font size, style, and color that match your email design. Don't try to hide it by blending it in with the background color, shrinking the type size, or moving it around each time.
Put it in both your primary or secondary navigation below the fold and near the bottom or in your email administration area if you have one. However, if you have a high spam-complaint rate, add it to the very top of your emails.
2. Deploy a combination unsubscribe/preference page
Create a well-designed, branded page that explains exactly how to unsubscribe, thanks the user for his/her patronage, and offers alternatives to unsubscribing but completes the unsubscribe process quickly for those who really do want to leave.
Test it for ease of use. Check it and the email unsubscribe link regularly to be sure they're working correctly.
A. Unsubscribe function
This page should make it easy and obvious how to unsubscribe. In fact, a ruling in May by the Federal Trade Commission prohibits requiring logins or passwords, surveys, or the viewing of offers to complete the unsubscribe. The entering of an email address is the only requirement allowed.
Pass the subscribers' email address and preferences through to this unsubscribe page. They won't have to enter any information; they'll merely check or uncheck boxes or select radio buttons.
After completing the unsubscribe or preference changes, launch a thank-you page that confirms the action(s) and again offers ways to continue the relationship via other channels, such as RSS or catalogs.
B. Suggested alternatives
Many of your subscribers who click the unsubscribe link just want some aspect of the relationship to change.
Retain these subscribers with an unsubscribe/preference page that allows them both to change preferences and to opt out. Include these alternatives:
* Changing their email address. Best practice: To reduce mistakes, load the form with the address they used to subscribe.
* Changing the frequency. Offer some appropriate options, such as a weekly or monthly digest of daily or weekly messages.
* Changing the format. Let users switch from plain text to HTML or vice versa, as well as a "mobile" version—a shortened HTML format minus images—if you offer it.
* Changing the channel. Show users how and where to sign up for your RSS feed(s), SMS messaging, or direct mail, if you offer them.
* Changing their profile or preferences. People's needs and interests change over time. Present their profile/preferences this page or link to your preference page.
* Subscribing to your other lists/emails. You may have other emails or newsletters of more relevance to the subscriber. Present a list (with descriptions, if possible) of the emails you offer and highlight those they are currently receiving.
C. Alternate contacts
Always provide your customer-service phone number and email and postal addresses in case the subscriber has problems, such as when a page is not loading or in case of error messages.
D. Exit survey
Try to capture why subscribers are opting out. Use radio buttons listing the top five or so reasons you know why people are unsubscribing. Then, provide a comment box for people to elaborate or list other reasons, and study what they say. Make it clear the survey is optional.
E. Timing statement if the unsubscribe is not immediate
Consumers expect your emails to stop as soon as they unsubscribe, even though in the United States the CAN-SPAM Act allows up to 10 days to remove someone from a list. If, for whatever reason, it takes you several days to process an unsubscribe, include a statement such as the following: "When unsubscribing, there may be a delay of up to seven days. We apologize in advance if you receive further emails during this period."
Other Best Practices
* Launch a thank-you page that confirms the actions the subscriber took and thanks that person.
* Track your unsubscribe rate over several campaigns to spot trends, correlate with spam complaints, and analyze to find patterns.
* Test different unsubscribe formats to find one that works best.
* Minimize the need for unsubscribing by optimizing your opt-in procedure and following email best practices throughout your relationship.
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Definitive Guide to Business-to-Business Marketing in a Recession
by Jon Miller
Does an economic slowdown necessarily mean that business-to-business marketers have to find even more ways to do more with less? Or can a downturn create opportunity for smart marketers to grow and thrive?
In this guide to B2B marketing during a recession, I answer these questions and share specific strategies you can use to shine when times are dark.
Are We in a Recession?
First of all, I should explain I do not think that the US is in a recession—yet. A recession requires two quarters of negative GDP growth, and the Bureau of Economic Statistics reported 0.6% growth for Q4 2007 while preliminary numbers for Q1 2008 show 0.9% growth.
So we may not yet be in a recession, but times are growing increasingly difficult for consumers. The subprime mess is real, rising energy and food costs are cutting into discretionary spending, and the weakened dollar is importing inflation to our economy.
According to the Web site How I Spent My Stimulus, the $152 billion stimulus package is going primarily to reduce consumer debt or pay for higher gas and food costs, not to stimulate incremental spending.
I like to say that we are in the worst possible non-recession. And, since prior downturns avoided becoming a (global) recession because of resilient spending by American consumers—a saving grace we don't have this time—things may still get worse before they get better.
What Does This Mean for Business-to-Business Marketing?
Fewer consumers means less demand; less demand means efforts to stimulate demand (i.e,. marketing) are less effective overall. In other words, when people buy less, advertisers spend less. According to research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, advertising in the US dropped 9% in the 2001 recession and Internet advertising specifically fell 27%.
I should point out that this slowdown applies to business-to-business marketers as well, because as consumer spending drops the businesses that sell to those consumers reduce their spending as well.
However, these macro trends hide two important facts:
1. Branding and other forms of push marketing drop in a slowdown, while direct marketing tends to rise. When budgets are cut, the channels with the least ability to measure marketing ROI are cut especially hard as companies shift spending to more measurable channels. Investment bank Cowen and Company looked at the last six recessions since 1950 and found that spending on direct marketing actually grew during six recessions.
2. This time is different for online marketing. In the 2001 recession, online marketing was still unproven and got caught in the downward collapse of the Internet in general. Today, the trend to shift advertising dollars to measurable online channels is proven and won't disappear anytime soon. However, just because online marketing won't crater doesn't mean it isn't immune from a slowdown. In fact, eMarketer recently reduced its 2008 estimate for US online advertising to $25.8 billion. That is a 7% reduction from its prior estimate—but it is still 23% higher than 2007's total. In other words, the recession may slow down the growth of online marketing, but it's still growing at a significant pace.
What this means is that a recession will accelerate the decline of interruption-based mass advertising that simply shouts your message to customers. In its place we will see increased growth in measurable and relationship-based strategies such as search marketing, email marketing, lead nurturing, and online communities.
A downturn can also create opportunity for the companies that are more efficient at turning marketing investments into revenue, since there will be less competition overall.
In a study of US recessions, McGraw-Hill Research found that business-to-business firms that maintained or increased advertising expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession averaged significantly higher sales growth than those that eliminated or decreased advertising. It found, in fact, that by 1985 the companies that were aggressive recession advertisers had grown their revenue over 2.5X faster than those that had reduced their advertising.
Seven Strategies for B2b Marketing During a Slowdown
Given these macro-economic trends, how should you allocate your marketing budget—and time? Here are specific business-to-business strategies you can use during a downturn:
1. Use lead management to maximize the value of each lead
In a recession, risk-averse buyers take longer than normal to research potential purchases. When you first identify a new prospect (regardless of whether he/she downloaded a whitepaper, stopped by your booth at a tradeshow, or signed up for a free trial), that prospect is more likely than not still in the awareness or research stage and is not yet ready to engage with one of your sales reps.
This means that you need lead scoring to identify which leads are highly engaged and lead nurturing to develop relationships with qualified prospects who are not yet ready to engage with sales. Without these capabilities, as many as 95% of qualified prospects who are not yet sales-ready never end up turning into a sales opportunity. These prospects are valuable corporate assets that you worked hard to acquire, and in a down economy you need to do everything possible to maximize value from them.
Implementing even simple automated lead-nurturing programs can yield a 400% improvement in the conversion of qualified prospects into sales opportunities over time. Net-net: Companies that can do a better job of managing leads and developing early-stage prospects into sales ready leads will be in the best position to thrive in a downturn.
2. Focus on your house list
In a recession, you may have less money to spend on acquiring new customers. The solution is simple: Spend more time marketing to (and building relationships with) the people you already know.
Activities that can help you get the most out of your existing relationships include conducting lead-nurturing campaigns, creating new content to offer to existing prospects, and cleaning and augmenting your marketing lead database with progressive profiling.
3. Build and optimize landing pages
When times are tough, it's more important than ever to maximize the return on your advertising. Whether you are using Google AdWords, banners, sponsorships, or email campaigns, a dedicated landing page is the single most effective way to turn a click into a prospect.
A relevant landing page can easily double conversions versus sending clicks to the homepage, and testing your pages can increase conversions by another 48% or more. Together, these tactics alone can result in 2.5X more leads for every dollar you spend, something that's sure to look good in tough times.
However, most companies are under-using this important technique: 44% of clicks for B2B companies are directed to the homepage, not a special landing page, and of B2B companies that use landing pages 62% have six or fewer total pages.
A recession is perhaps the best time to focus on some of these basics.
4. Content is for later in the buying cycle
When buying slows down, you need to focus more than ever on making sure that you are finding the prospects who are actually ready to buy—or, even better, make sure that they are finding you.
One great way to do this is to focus your offers on content that will appeal to someone who's actually looking for a solution (as opposed to thought-leadership and best-practices content, which can appeal to prospects who may one day have a need but are not currently looking). Examples of this kind of content can include "Top 5 Questions to Ask a Potential Vendor" whitepapers, buyers guides and checklists, analyst evaluations, and so on.
5. Appeal to the nervous buyer
A recession can mean more risk-averse buyers, which may lead to a tendency to go with "safe" solutions. This is fine for large established companies, but it means that younger companies need to do more than ever to reassure buyers and build trust.
Tactically, this means including customer references, reviews, expert opinions, awards, and other validation as part of your marketing.
Strategically, a recession means fewer risk-takers and visionaries, so take a lesson from Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm (pdf) and use methods that appeal to mainstream pragmatists: industry-specific marketing tactics and solutions, vertical customer references, relevant partnerships and alliances, and whole-product marketing.
6. Align sales and marketing
Today's prospects start their buying process by interacting with marketing and online channels long before they ever speak with a sales representative. This means companies must integrate marketing and sales efforts to create a single revenue pipeline.
The old days of functional silos and poor communication between the two departments must end. A tougher selling environment, driven by a recession, means this is more true than ever.
7. Don't be a cost center
Most executives today think that Sales delivers revenue and Marketing is a cost center. Marketers are partly to blame for part of this mindset, since when we use metrics such as "cost per lead" we frame the discussion in terms of costs, not in terms of impact on revenue. More subtly, language like "marketing spending" and "marketing budget" instead of "marketing investment" perpetuates these beliefs.
In a recession, marketing needs more than ever to change these perceptions. This means that marketing investments must be justified with a rigorous business case and should be amortized over the entire "useful life" of the investment. And it means marketing must increase marketing accountability by demonstrating the impact of each marketing activity on pipeline and revenue.
Of course, this is easier said than done, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Even small steps, like reports that show the total opportunity value for each lead source or campaign, can make a big impact.
Conclusion
Even if we aren't in a recession, we are in for some tough economic times—and an economic slowdown means a tendency to scale back marketing spending. However, research shows that a downturn creates opportunity to accelerate growth faster than your competitors. This means it may be the best time to step up your marketing—at least in quality if not quantity.
The marketers who focus on getting the most out of every dollar spent and on demonstrating marketing's impact on revenue and pipeline will be well positioned to come out of the slump looking like a star.
Does an economic slowdown necessarily mean that business-to-business marketers have to find even more ways to do more with less? Or can a downturn create opportunity for smart marketers to grow and thrive?
In this guide to B2B marketing during a recession, I answer these questions and share specific strategies you can use to shine when times are dark.
Are We in a Recession?
First of all, I should explain I do not think that the US is in a recession—yet. A recession requires two quarters of negative GDP growth, and the Bureau of Economic Statistics reported 0.6% growth for Q4 2007 while preliminary numbers for Q1 2008 show 0.9% growth.
So we may not yet be in a recession, but times are growing increasingly difficult for consumers. The subprime mess is real, rising energy and food costs are cutting into discretionary spending, and the weakened dollar is importing inflation to our economy.
According to the Web site How I Spent My Stimulus, the $152 billion stimulus package is going primarily to reduce consumer debt or pay for higher gas and food costs, not to stimulate incremental spending.
I like to say that we are in the worst possible non-recession. And, since prior downturns avoided becoming a (global) recession because of resilient spending by American consumers—a saving grace we don't have this time—things may still get worse before they get better.
What Does This Mean for Business-to-Business Marketing?
Fewer consumers means less demand; less demand means efforts to stimulate demand (i.e,. marketing) are less effective overall. In other words, when people buy less, advertisers spend less. According to research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, advertising in the US dropped 9% in the 2001 recession and Internet advertising specifically fell 27%.
I should point out that this slowdown applies to business-to-business marketers as well, because as consumer spending drops the businesses that sell to those consumers reduce their spending as well.
However, these macro trends hide two important facts:
1. Branding and other forms of push marketing drop in a slowdown, while direct marketing tends to rise. When budgets are cut, the channels with the least ability to measure marketing ROI are cut especially hard as companies shift spending to more measurable channels. Investment bank Cowen and Company looked at the last six recessions since 1950 and found that spending on direct marketing actually grew during six recessions.
2. This time is different for online marketing. In the 2001 recession, online marketing was still unproven and got caught in the downward collapse of the Internet in general. Today, the trend to shift advertising dollars to measurable online channels is proven and won't disappear anytime soon. However, just because online marketing won't crater doesn't mean it isn't immune from a slowdown. In fact, eMarketer recently reduced its 2008 estimate for US online advertising to $25.8 billion. That is a 7% reduction from its prior estimate—but it is still 23% higher than 2007's total. In other words, the recession may slow down the growth of online marketing, but it's still growing at a significant pace.
What this means is that a recession will accelerate the decline of interruption-based mass advertising that simply shouts your message to customers. In its place we will see increased growth in measurable and relationship-based strategies such as search marketing, email marketing, lead nurturing, and online communities.
A downturn can also create opportunity for the companies that are more efficient at turning marketing investments into revenue, since there will be less competition overall.
In a study of US recessions, McGraw-Hill Research found that business-to-business firms that maintained or increased advertising expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession averaged significantly higher sales growth than those that eliminated or decreased advertising. It found, in fact, that by 1985 the companies that were aggressive recession advertisers had grown their revenue over 2.5X faster than those that had reduced their advertising.
Seven Strategies for B2b Marketing During a Slowdown
Given these macro-economic trends, how should you allocate your marketing budget—and time? Here are specific business-to-business strategies you can use during a downturn:
1. Use lead management to maximize the value of each lead
In a recession, risk-averse buyers take longer than normal to research potential purchases. When you first identify a new prospect (regardless of whether he/she downloaded a whitepaper, stopped by your booth at a tradeshow, or signed up for a free trial), that prospect is more likely than not still in the awareness or research stage and is not yet ready to engage with one of your sales reps.
This means that you need lead scoring to identify which leads are highly engaged and lead nurturing to develop relationships with qualified prospects who are not yet ready to engage with sales. Without these capabilities, as many as 95% of qualified prospects who are not yet sales-ready never end up turning into a sales opportunity. These prospects are valuable corporate assets that you worked hard to acquire, and in a down economy you need to do everything possible to maximize value from them.
Implementing even simple automated lead-nurturing programs can yield a 400% improvement in the conversion of qualified prospects into sales opportunities over time. Net-net: Companies that can do a better job of managing leads and developing early-stage prospects into sales ready leads will be in the best position to thrive in a downturn.
2. Focus on your house list
In a recession, you may have less money to spend on acquiring new customers. The solution is simple: Spend more time marketing to (and building relationships with) the people you already know.
Activities that can help you get the most out of your existing relationships include conducting lead-nurturing campaigns, creating new content to offer to existing prospects, and cleaning and augmenting your marketing lead database with progressive profiling.
3. Build and optimize landing pages
When times are tough, it's more important than ever to maximize the return on your advertising. Whether you are using Google AdWords, banners, sponsorships, or email campaigns, a dedicated landing page is the single most effective way to turn a click into a prospect.
A relevant landing page can easily double conversions versus sending clicks to the homepage, and testing your pages can increase conversions by another 48% or more. Together, these tactics alone can result in 2.5X more leads for every dollar you spend, something that's sure to look good in tough times.
However, most companies are under-using this important technique: 44% of clicks for B2B companies are directed to the homepage, not a special landing page, and of B2B companies that use landing pages 62% have six or fewer total pages.
A recession is perhaps the best time to focus on some of these basics.
4. Content is for later in the buying cycle
When buying slows down, you need to focus more than ever on making sure that you are finding the prospects who are actually ready to buy—or, even better, make sure that they are finding you.
One great way to do this is to focus your offers on content that will appeal to someone who's actually looking for a solution (as opposed to thought-leadership and best-practices content, which can appeal to prospects who may one day have a need but are not currently looking). Examples of this kind of content can include "Top 5 Questions to Ask a Potential Vendor" whitepapers, buyers guides and checklists, analyst evaluations, and so on.
5. Appeal to the nervous buyer
A recession can mean more risk-averse buyers, which may lead to a tendency to go with "safe" solutions. This is fine for large established companies, but it means that younger companies need to do more than ever to reassure buyers and build trust.
Tactically, this means including customer references, reviews, expert opinions, awards, and other validation as part of your marketing.
Strategically, a recession means fewer risk-takers and visionaries, so take a lesson from Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm (pdf) and use methods that appeal to mainstream pragmatists: industry-specific marketing tactics and solutions, vertical customer references, relevant partnerships and alliances, and whole-product marketing.
6. Align sales and marketing
Today's prospects start their buying process by interacting with marketing and online channels long before they ever speak with a sales representative. This means companies must integrate marketing and sales efforts to create a single revenue pipeline.
The old days of functional silos and poor communication between the two departments must end. A tougher selling environment, driven by a recession, means this is more true than ever.
7. Don't be a cost center
Most executives today think that Sales delivers revenue and Marketing is a cost center. Marketers are partly to blame for part of this mindset, since when we use metrics such as "cost per lead" we frame the discussion in terms of costs, not in terms of impact on revenue. More subtly, language like "marketing spending" and "marketing budget" instead of "marketing investment" perpetuates these beliefs.
In a recession, marketing needs more than ever to change these perceptions. This means that marketing investments must be justified with a rigorous business case and should be amortized over the entire "useful life" of the investment. And it means marketing must increase marketing accountability by demonstrating the impact of each marketing activity on pipeline and revenue.
Of course, this is easier said than done, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Even small steps, like reports that show the total opportunity value for each lead source or campaign, can make a big impact.
Conclusion
Even if we aren't in a recession, we are in for some tough economic times—and an economic slowdown means a tendency to scale back marketing spending. However, research shows that a downturn creates opportunity to accelerate growth faster than your competitors. This means it may be the best time to step up your marketing—at least in quality if not quantity.
The marketers who focus on getting the most out of every dollar spent and on demonstrating marketing's impact on revenue and pipeline will be well positioned to come out of the slump looking like a star.
Stick to the Script!
To ease the pain of cold calling, "A good sales script is essential," says Christine Comaford-Lynch. The perfect script should contain four elements, she says:
Start with who you are and where you are calling from. Move on to explain what you are selling. Continue with two compelling features of what it is you're offering. Finish with a request for commitment, by asking: "Is this something you want?"
Don't be discouraged if the answer to that last question is "no." According to Comaford-Lynch, disqualifying bad leads is an essential part of the lead-gen process. In fact, the dialogue you prepare with a good script should be able to both attract a good lead and disqualify a bad one. Two tips for creating that perfect dialogue:
Limit your script to 45 words at most. "Conventional sales theory (and countless studies) have found that after 30 seconds, your listener will begin to have negative feelings about you. That means you really have about 20 seconds, which … only works out to about 45 words," she says.
Practice your offer with a 14-year-old. If he or she understands it, it's likely clear and concise enough.
"[C]ustomers' buying decisions have a lot to do with five factors," Comaford-Lynch concludes: "trust, respect, brand recognition, quality, and price. … So drop the schmoozing, and start building rapport."
The Po!nt: Get writing before you start calling. The key to an easy cold call is an informative script, well-rehearsed, that's designed to build rapport—as well as disqualify a bad lead.
Source: BusinessWeek.
Start with who you are and where you are calling from. Move on to explain what you are selling. Continue with two compelling features of what it is you're offering. Finish with a request for commitment, by asking: "Is this something you want?"
Don't be discouraged if the answer to that last question is "no." According to Comaford-Lynch, disqualifying bad leads is an essential part of the lead-gen process. In fact, the dialogue you prepare with a good script should be able to both attract a good lead and disqualify a bad one. Two tips for creating that perfect dialogue:
Limit your script to 45 words at most. "Conventional sales theory (and countless studies) have found that after 30 seconds, your listener will begin to have negative feelings about you. That means you really have about 20 seconds, which … only works out to about 45 words," she says.
Practice your offer with a 14-year-old. If he or she understands it, it's likely clear and concise enough.
"[C]ustomers' buying decisions have a lot to do with five factors," Comaford-Lynch concludes: "trust, respect, brand recognition, quality, and price. … So drop the schmoozing, and start building rapport."
The Po!nt: Get writing before you start calling. The key to an easy cold call is an informative script, well-rehearsed, that's designed to build rapport—as well as disqualify a bad lead.
Source: BusinessWeek.
Bridging the Gap Between Email Marketing and CRM
by Drew Adams
It's easy to get frustrated when mapping out the complexities of integrating email marketing with a CRM application. Companies want to view all customer data, including email marketing statistics, in one easy-to-use application. However, few CRM providers have mastered the art of email marketing.
Some organizations attempt to build their own email tool within a CRM application for managing email marketing, but this often results in poor deliverability. A new system can't immediately leverage the whitelisting status that reputable email marketing companies work hard to maintain. Also, by bringing email marketing in-house, a company must dedicate staff time to developing relationships with ISPs.
Many firms turn to an API, or application-programming interface, as the solution. APIs bridge the gap between CRM and other third-party software applications, which is useful for organizations that wish to manage customer data and email campaigns in one interface. A user may view sales data, demographic, and other customer data in the CRM system. The API is simply a bridge between the two systems, allowing them to talk with one another.
Why is integration important? Simplicity. By using a single interface, users can quickly gather information from various sources rather than logging into different applications. Everything they need is available by the click of the mouse from their CRM's interface.
OK, I'm ready to integrate my CRM with an email marketing solution. What next?
Before you do hours of research on an email marketing company's API, ensure that your own system has an API. If you're using a CRM that does not allow third-party applications to connect, it may be difficult to achieve this level of integration.
Assuming you have a system that can plug in, you may begin shopping for an email marketing API. Your first step is to perform the standard email marketing litmus test:
* Is it whitelisted with the major ISPs?
* Does it use third-party services to measure deliverability?
* Does it offer Sender-ID and DomainKeys?
* Does it ban rented or purchased lists from their system?
* Does it offer and encourage double opt-ins?
* Does their feature set meet my needs?
* Does it screen resellers and API users to ensure they aren't abusing the system?
If the answers to those questions are favorable, then one can move on to evaluating the API. At this point in the evaluation process, you should pull in your development team, if applicable.
What Does the API Need to Do?
Automatic contact subscriptions
One of the main uses of an email marketing API is to subscribe people automatically to email lists from a third-party system. For example, when a customer is added to your CRM, an API call can be made to automatically add that person to an email list. Without the API, your marketing manager will be pulling double duty adding the email address to both the CRM and the email application.
Leverage whitelist and deliverability setup
Email campaigns kicked off by using third-party API services use technologies such as DomainKeys and Sender ID so that mail coming from your clients will be seen as legitimate mail.
In addition, the IP addresses of the sending servers will already be set up on whitelists giving the highest possibility of getting in the inbox.
Finally, third-party API servers will be set up on feedback loops with the ISPs. This means that when anyone reports a message as spam to an ISP, generally through the "spam" button inside the mail reader interface, a notification of that will be sent back to the sending server.
This allows email marketers to unsubscribe the recipient and keep track of how many people are complaining and take appropriate actions if those complaint rates spike.
Open and click-through tracking provided automatically
Those who might be thinking of adding email capabilities into their applications may soon be asked to provide statistics on how the email performed, meaning how many people opened or clicked on the message, how many messages bounced back, and how many people reported the message as spam.
Writing the code to deliver those statistics takes lots of time and testing, which is the reason many people choose to leverage an email marketing API. Those statistics come "built-in," which means they can be reported back to the senders, giving them actionable intelligence.
Unsubscribe and bounceback management
Managing subscription status is an important component of an email marketing system. When using a third-party email marketing API, an "Unsubscribe" link will automatically be added to all emails going out. The system tracks unsubscribes and does not send to that address again. In addition, any recipient mail that bounces back—either temporarily or permanently—will be tracked and reported back to you. All this ensures that you are CAN-SPAM and whitelist compliant, and yet another potential headache you don't have to worry about.
Speed of delivery (and message throttling)
Third-party systems are built to send mail and can deliver it quickly if need be. However, to ensure maximum deliverability, third-party providers enable throttling capabilities to ensure ISPs don't get mail faster than they are willing to accept it. This helps with deliverability.
Conclusions
There isn't a magic button to bring all these components together. Integrating your email marketing application and your internal databases will take time and planning. By selecting an email marketing application, along with an open CRM application, you can increase efficiency and ROI by bringing these powerful tools together.
It's easy to get frustrated when mapping out the complexities of integrating email marketing with a CRM application. Companies want to view all customer data, including email marketing statistics, in one easy-to-use application. However, few CRM providers have mastered the art of email marketing.
Some organizations attempt to build their own email tool within a CRM application for managing email marketing, but this often results in poor deliverability. A new system can't immediately leverage the whitelisting status that reputable email marketing companies work hard to maintain. Also, by bringing email marketing in-house, a company must dedicate staff time to developing relationships with ISPs.
Many firms turn to an API, or application-programming interface, as the solution. APIs bridge the gap between CRM and other third-party software applications, which is useful for organizations that wish to manage customer data and email campaigns in one interface. A user may view sales data, demographic, and other customer data in the CRM system. The API is simply a bridge between the two systems, allowing them to talk with one another.
Why is integration important? Simplicity. By using a single interface, users can quickly gather information from various sources rather than logging into different applications. Everything they need is available by the click of the mouse from their CRM's interface.
OK, I'm ready to integrate my CRM with an email marketing solution. What next?
Before you do hours of research on an email marketing company's API, ensure that your own system has an API. If you're using a CRM that does not allow third-party applications to connect, it may be difficult to achieve this level of integration.
Assuming you have a system that can plug in, you may begin shopping for an email marketing API. Your first step is to perform the standard email marketing litmus test:
* Is it whitelisted with the major ISPs?
* Does it use third-party services to measure deliverability?
* Does it offer Sender-ID and DomainKeys?
* Does it ban rented or purchased lists from their system?
* Does it offer and encourage double opt-ins?
* Does their feature set meet my needs?
* Does it screen resellers and API users to ensure they aren't abusing the system?
If the answers to those questions are favorable, then one can move on to evaluating the API. At this point in the evaluation process, you should pull in your development team, if applicable.
What Does the API Need to Do?
Automatic contact subscriptions
One of the main uses of an email marketing API is to subscribe people automatically to email lists from a third-party system. For example, when a customer is added to your CRM, an API call can be made to automatically add that person to an email list. Without the API, your marketing manager will be pulling double duty adding the email address to both the CRM and the email application.
Leverage whitelist and deliverability setup
Email campaigns kicked off by using third-party API services use technologies such as DomainKeys and Sender ID so that mail coming from your clients will be seen as legitimate mail.
In addition, the IP addresses of the sending servers will already be set up on whitelists giving the highest possibility of getting in the inbox.
Finally, third-party API servers will be set up on feedback loops with the ISPs. This means that when anyone reports a message as spam to an ISP, generally through the "spam" button inside the mail reader interface, a notification of that will be sent back to the sending server.
This allows email marketers to unsubscribe the recipient and keep track of how many people are complaining and take appropriate actions if those complaint rates spike.
Open and click-through tracking provided automatically
Those who might be thinking of adding email capabilities into their applications may soon be asked to provide statistics on how the email performed, meaning how many people opened or clicked on the message, how many messages bounced back, and how many people reported the message as spam.
Writing the code to deliver those statistics takes lots of time and testing, which is the reason many people choose to leverage an email marketing API. Those statistics come "built-in," which means they can be reported back to the senders, giving them actionable intelligence.
Unsubscribe and bounceback management
Managing subscription status is an important component of an email marketing system. When using a third-party email marketing API, an "Unsubscribe" link will automatically be added to all emails going out. The system tracks unsubscribes and does not send to that address again. In addition, any recipient mail that bounces back—either temporarily or permanently—will be tracked and reported back to you. All this ensures that you are CAN-SPAM and whitelist compliant, and yet another potential headache you don't have to worry about.
Speed of delivery (and message throttling)
Third-party systems are built to send mail and can deliver it quickly if need be. However, to ensure maximum deliverability, third-party providers enable throttling capabilities to ensure ISPs don't get mail faster than they are willing to accept it. This helps with deliverability.
Conclusions
There isn't a magic button to bring all these components together. Integrating your email marketing application and your internal databases will take time and planning. By selecting an email marketing application, along with an open CRM application, you can increase efficiency and ROI by bringing these powerful tools together.
Five Inexpensive Direct Mail Tools to Generate Sales Leads Fast
by Dean Rieck
There are many new ways to generate sales leads today, but direct mail remains one of the most powerful lead-generation tools.
Even successful online businesses are discovering that direct mail is essential for growth, since newer marketing tactics, such as SEO, social media, and email marketing, often have limitations because of the rapidly changing rules and technical issues involved.
While a mailer isn't as sexy as a viral video and it's not a hot topic at conferences, it's the most reliable way to reach people at home or at work. Its reach is wider and deeper than any other medium's. Plus, there are few restrictions on format and no message filtering or blacklisting headaches that plague email marketing.
Isn't direct mail expensive? It can be. But don't think that you have to create big, flashy mailers. In fact, when your goal is to generate sales leads, simpler, cheaper formats often work better. That's because the purpose of a lead-generating mailer is not to tell the whole story but to say just enough to get people to ask for more information.
Here are five basic direct mail tools that you can use to generate sales leads quickly and inexpensively.
1. Sales Letter
The letter is one of the simplest and most effective direct-mail tools available. It won't win any design awards, but if written well it's one of the few types of advertising that people will actually read all the way through.
To generate sales leads with a letter, you generally want to offer something free, such as a brochure, sample, demo, evaluation, or information kit. There's no need to get fancy when writing your letter. Keep it simple. Identify a problem, present your solution, and offer to send your freebie. Doing so allows interested prospects to identify themselves and gives you or your sales people a "foot in the door."
The simplest letter mailing includes a one- or two-page letter and a reply card in an envelope. You can enclose anything else you like, but remember that your goal is to get people to ask for more information, not to close the sale immediately. Less is more.
2. Postcard
Yes, simple postcards are a terrific way to generate leads. They're easy to print and as cheap as mail gets. If you're a small business, you can even print postcards through a variety of online printers and apply stamps and address labels by hand.
To get the cheaper postcard rate, the minimum size of any postcard you can send in the US mail is 3.5" x 5", and the maximum size is 4.25" x 6". You can certainly create larger postcards, and many businesses do. You simply have to pay more postage. Larger sizes give you more room for your message and photos or graphics. Just be sure to talk to your printer first to determine the most efficient size for printing so you get the most for your money.
Postcards are particularly good for generating a quick phone call or for driving people to your Web site. Since cards are small and offer little room for copy, your product or service should be familiar and easy to understand. Your offer should be simple and direct. People don't read postcards as much as they glance at them.
Your phone number or Web address should be big and bold so people can't miss it. If you're driving people to a retail store, make sure to give clear directions and a simple map if you have room. Telling people what you want them to do and how to do it is the best way to maximize response.
3. Flyer
You want simple and cheap? Print up a flyer on ordinary paper, fold it, affix a mailing label and a stamp, and throw it in the mail. This kind of guerrilla tactic is dirt cheap and can produce fantastic results for all kinds of businesses.
It's particularly good for small, local businesses (or businesses that want to appear small). Unless you're selling Mercedes sedans or Rolex watches, no one expects you to do fancy mailings anyway. In fact, in a pile of over-designed ad mail, a simple flyer from a local business stands out. People are subjected to so many clever ads, they develop "ad blindness." To get people to notice you, just mail them ugly flyers that don't look like ordinary advertising.
When you're mailing a flyer, you should fold it in thirds (called a "roll fold") and affix a tab to hold it closed so it can survive the journey. You will put your main message on the inside with teasers and your mailing information on the outside. And be sure to design the flyer so that when you read the address, the folded side is on the bottom and the tab is on the top. Most printers, even small ones, should know this.
4. Invitation
When you see the word "invitation," you probably think of small cards with heavy paper and elegant printing asking you to a wedding or formal dinner. But invitations can take almost any form. They're simply a way of presenting an offer that feels personal and important.
You can certainly go the expensive route if you have an expensive product or service. But you can invite people to an event with any of the formats above: a letter, postcard, or flyer. Just start the headline with the words "You are invited to..." then tell people what the event is.
You can invite people to an open house, special sale, party for your best customers, product demonstration, informational presentation, or anything that requires getting people to a particular location. The key is to make people feel that they are special and not everyone is being invited. Once they get there, your sales people can go to work.
5. Special Delivery
FedEx and other quick delivery services are far more expensive than regular mail, but this is a technique for a special "wish list" of your best prospects. If you have 100 key people you want as customers, spending the money to overnight a brochure or information kit may well be worth the investment.
This mailer is guaranteed to get opened. Who can resist opening a FedEx package? Inside, you should include a personal letter explaining who you are and what you are offering. You might send a sample with a note that says, "Here's a small sample of our product. If you'd like to see the real thing, call me and I'll have one shipped to you." Or you could enclose a disk with a video presentation or a white paper with detailed information about how others have used your product.
Once again, don't try to fancy it up. You are sending a message to a highly select group of people, so it should look like you've done it personally. This isn't advertising, it's a personal contact from you to them.
* * *
No matter what direct mail tool you use to generate leads, remember to follow up quickly once you get the lead. Hot leads cool off quickly. Ideally, you should respond to people within a week, two weeks maximum.
Give your leads to the salespeople and make sure they understand what was offered so they can follow up with a phone call.
Almost every day a new marketing technology or technique is developed. But good-old-fashioned direct mail hasn't lost any of its power for generating leads.
There are many new ways to generate sales leads today, but direct mail remains one of the most powerful lead-generation tools.
Even successful online businesses are discovering that direct mail is essential for growth, since newer marketing tactics, such as SEO, social media, and email marketing, often have limitations because of the rapidly changing rules and technical issues involved.
While a mailer isn't as sexy as a viral video and it's not a hot topic at conferences, it's the most reliable way to reach people at home or at work. Its reach is wider and deeper than any other medium's. Plus, there are few restrictions on format and no message filtering or blacklisting headaches that plague email marketing.
Isn't direct mail expensive? It can be. But don't think that you have to create big, flashy mailers. In fact, when your goal is to generate sales leads, simpler, cheaper formats often work better. That's because the purpose of a lead-generating mailer is not to tell the whole story but to say just enough to get people to ask for more information.
Here are five basic direct mail tools that you can use to generate sales leads quickly and inexpensively.
1. Sales Letter
The letter is one of the simplest and most effective direct-mail tools available. It won't win any design awards, but if written well it's one of the few types of advertising that people will actually read all the way through.
To generate sales leads with a letter, you generally want to offer something free, such as a brochure, sample, demo, evaluation, or information kit. There's no need to get fancy when writing your letter. Keep it simple. Identify a problem, present your solution, and offer to send your freebie. Doing so allows interested prospects to identify themselves and gives you or your sales people a "foot in the door."
The simplest letter mailing includes a one- or two-page letter and a reply card in an envelope. You can enclose anything else you like, but remember that your goal is to get people to ask for more information, not to close the sale immediately. Less is more.
2. Postcard
Yes, simple postcards are a terrific way to generate leads. They're easy to print and as cheap as mail gets. If you're a small business, you can even print postcards through a variety of online printers and apply stamps and address labels by hand.
To get the cheaper postcard rate, the minimum size of any postcard you can send in the US mail is 3.5" x 5", and the maximum size is 4.25" x 6". You can certainly create larger postcards, and many businesses do. You simply have to pay more postage. Larger sizes give you more room for your message and photos or graphics. Just be sure to talk to your printer first to determine the most efficient size for printing so you get the most for your money.
Postcards are particularly good for generating a quick phone call or for driving people to your Web site. Since cards are small and offer little room for copy, your product or service should be familiar and easy to understand. Your offer should be simple and direct. People don't read postcards as much as they glance at them.
Your phone number or Web address should be big and bold so people can't miss it. If you're driving people to a retail store, make sure to give clear directions and a simple map if you have room. Telling people what you want them to do and how to do it is the best way to maximize response.
3. Flyer
You want simple and cheap? Print up a flyer on ordinary paper, fold it, affix a mailing label and a stamp, and throw it in the mail. This kind of guerrilla tactic is dirt cheap and can produce fantastic results for all kinds of businesses.
It's particularly good for small, local businesses (or businesses that want to appear small). Unless you're selling Mercedes sedans or Rolex watches, no one expects you to do fancy mailings anyway. In fact, in a pile of over-designed ad mail, a simple flyer from a local business stands out. People are subjected to so many clever ads, they develop "ad blindness." To get people to notice you, just mail them ugly flyers that don't look like ordinary advertising.
When you're mailing a flyer, you should fold it in thirds (called a "roll fold") and affix a tab to hold it closed so it can survive the journey. You will put your main message on the inside with teasers and your mailing information on the outside. And be sure to design the flyer so that when you read the address, the folded side is on the bottom and the tab is on the top. Most printers, even small ones, should know this.
4. Invitation
When you see the word "invitation," you probably think of small cards with heavy paper and elegant printing asking you to a wedding or formal dinner. But invitations can take almost any form. They're simply a way of presenting an offer that feels personal and important.
You can certainly go the expensive route if you have an expensive product or service. But you can invite people to an event with any of the formats above: a letter, postcard, or flyer. Just start the headline with the words "You are invited to..." then tell people what the event is.
You can invite people to an open house, special sale, party for your best customers, product demonstration, informational presentation, or anything that requires getting people to a particular location. The key is to make people feel that they are special and not everyone is being invited. Once they get there, your sales people can go to work.
5. Special Delivery
FedEx and other quick delivery services are far more expensive than regular mail, but this is a technique for a special "wish list" of your best prospects. If you have 100 key people you want as customers, spending the money to overnight a brochure or information kit may well be worth the investment.
This mailer is guaranteed to get opened. Who can resist opening a FedEx package? Inside, you should include a personal letter explaining who you are and what you are offering. You might send a sample with a note that says, "Here's a small sample of our product. If you'd like to see the real thing, call me and I'll have one shipped to you." Or you could enclose a disk with a video presentation or a white paper with detailed information about how others have used your product.
Once again, don't try to fancy it up. You are sending a message to a highly select group of people, so it should look like you've done it personally. This isn't advertising, it's a personal contact from you to them.
* * *
No matter what direct mail tool you use to generate leads, remember to follow up quickly once you get the lead. Hot leads cool off quickly. Ideally, you should respond to people within a week, two weeks maximum.
Give your leads to the salespeople and make sure they understand what was offered so they can follow up with a phone call.
Almost every day a new marketing technology or technique is developed. But good-old-fashioned direct mail hasn't lost any of its power for generating leads.
Tips for Improving E-mail Marketing Performance
By Karen Gedney - May 28, 2008
You may not think of yourself as a publisher. But if you're involved in sending out e-mail marketing for your company, you've got the makings of a mini-publishing empire on your hands.
In most companies, e-mail marketing is proliferating at a rate that's far outstripping the staff resources dedicated to it.
B2B (define) companies that don't consider themselves in the publishing business are generating a huge amount of content in the form of event and Webcast campaigns, e-newsletters, surveys, lead-generation e-mail, and e-catalog promotions.
And often, there's just a small e-mail marketing department dedicated to handling it all. Overworked and underbudgeted, this group is often tasked with formatting content provided by outside departments into a usable e-newsletter template and blasting it out the door.
They may review open rates and CTRs (define) after the fact, but they rarely have time to strategize how to improve these rates in advance -- when it can make a difference.
Having consulted at a number of companies where this is the case, I have a number of questions and recommendations that you might want to consider if you're planning a midyear review of your e-mail marketing performance.
Are You Reaching Your Ideal Customers?
If you're just looking at your open rates across the board, you might be missing something pretty fundamental. It could be that you're getting a lot of interest, but not from the decision-makers who have the budget, authority, and need for your products.
Match your sales team's top prospect list to the list of people who open your e-mail to see if you're getting through to the right folks.
If not, you must rethink your e-mail strategy. You may need to test a segmented publication to reach this desirable group of decision makers. Or if your best prospects are C-level executives, you may need to concede that an e-mail-only approach isn't the best way to reach them -- and instead create a multichannel campaign that includes high-quality direct mail, dimensional packages, and telemarketing.
By focusing on your ideal customer, you may find that you can streamline or curtail e-mail communications to prospects on your list who are less desirable or unlikely to buy.
Are You Reaching Your Ideal Customers on Their Preferred Communication Device?
If you send out dense multi-article e-newsletters to sales executives who are out of the office all day and only read e-mail on their BlackBerrys, your communication strategy is out of date and out of sync.
It's time to strip down your content from a too-much-information format to a need-to-know format that your audience can read on the go.
While formatting e-mail for the BlackBerry is a relatively new challenge and there aren't too many best practices available yet, you can:
- Ask new e-mail subscribers how they want to receive your messages when they sign up. Usually most e-mail preference centers offer the choice of text or HTML. However, one e-mail service provider told me that 95 percent of people sign up for HTML. So I would drop the text option and replace it with a handheld or BlackBerry option.
- Offer a "View by handheld" link at the top of your e-mail.
- On your mobile version:
- Strip out your banner, but be sure to create a text-letterhead with your company's name.
- Put your call-to-action link up top.
- Top-line your information in just a few sentences.
- Front-load your subject line so that it says everything in the first 15 characters (the length of the BlackBerry screen.
Are You Helping Your Reader Self-Identify the E-mail They Need to Read?
If you bombard your prospects and customers with look-alike e-mail messages with vague subject lines, how will they know which messages to open?
Categorize your messages according to your readers' needs and your objectives. For example, your sender lines could be categorized in the following way:
- XYZ Co. Webcast
- XYZ Co. Event
- XYZ Co. Survey
Or you could alert readers to the type of communication they're receiving at the beginning of the subject line, then follow up with an intriguing teaser that entices them to open your e-mail:
- [Webcast] Recession-Proof Your Marketing
- [Event] Marketing in Uncertain Times
- [Survey] Share Your Insights for Special Report
- [E-Newsletter Name] Top CMOs Reveal What's Working Now
In the same way, the e-mail messages should be categorized by using different formats. For example, e-newsletters shouldn't use your company's traditional banner. They should have their own mastheads with the publication name, a subtitle describing the value to the reader, and the issue number and date. And Webcasts invitations should look distinctly different from live event invitations.
Are Your E-Mail Messages Taking Too Long to Write? Are They Missing the Point?
There aren't a lot of writers trained in the fine points of e-mail writing. As a result, most companies aren't achieving their objectives in terms of sales generated.
To make things easier, create fill-in-the-blank templates for the main types of e-mail communication you send out. Areas to include in your template:
- Subject lines: Specify the optimal number of words or characters, and provide a few of examples of subject-line approaches that tend to work well.
- Alt-text tags and photo captions: Require that each image (including your company banner) include an alt-text tag in the image itself, as well as an intriguing caption.
- Preview pane: Require that the e-mail's whole message be summed up in one or two sentences at the top of the e-mail, so that it shows through the preview pane.
- Call to action: Specify where the call-to-action message should go (near the top) and how often it should be repeated in the message.
- Sidebars, Johnson boxes, and hotboxes: Create a template to break up information into bite-sized chunks that all appear in the initial screen.
Finally, guide your writers to where their creativity really counts, including:
- The subject line: If it isn't good, no one will open the e-newsletter.
- Your event or Webcast name: It better be compelling, or no one will attend.
- Your headlines and lead-in sentences: If you don't catch readers in the first few seconds of opening your e-mail, you'll lose them as they hit delete and scroll away to view the rest of their inbox.
Follow these guidelines, and you'll soon be thinking like a publisher by creating e-mail content that your audience really wants to read, and streamlining or discontinuing e-mail efforts that aren't making the mark.
What techniques are you using to manage e-mail proliferation, strategize communications, and get that e-mail out the door quickly? Let Karen know.
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