Darwill

Tough Economic Times Need Proactive Marketing

Category: Planning & Strategy

Thursday, 16 May 2013 08:00

The economy is bouncing back, but marketing budgets are still tight. Are you tempted to slash your print marketing budget to save a few dollars? If so, you are likely to be counterproductive.

Difficult economic times are about survival. The more visible your company is, the more confident your customers and prospects will be that you are the company to trust. When you stop marketing, you create uncertainty about the strength of your business. You also open the door for your best customers to become your competitor’s best prospects.

When printing and mailing in any economic environment, here are three tips that will help you get the most out of your marketing dollars:

1. Craft your message from a position of strength. When times are tough, people don’t stop buying. They just become more selective. Establish yourself as a strategic business partner who offers the most relevant products at the greatest value based on quality and performance. Add credibility to your message with customer testimonials and other sources of validation, such as certifications and awards.
2. Exploit the weaknesses of the competition. Your best marketing campaign is worthless if the competitor down the street is closing the sale. Design print materials to persuade prospects not only to buy the product or service you’re offering, but to buy it from you. Determine what your competitors are doing (or not doing) that can help you position your company, product, or offer more favorably.
3. Give prospects a reason to buy now. No matter how magical your marketing message is, fewer people tend to respond when budgets are tight. Spur prospects to action with a limited time offer, such as a discount or complimentary service. Fear is a part of the buying decision. Guarantees are an effective way to ease buyer doubt.

Companies with aggressive marketing, along with superior products and value, prevail in times of both prosperity and recession, while those with timid marketing, inferior products, and exaggerated marketing claims fail. Whether it’s branding, prospecting, or customer retention, invest in smart marketing and enjoy a vastly stronger market presence as the economy bounces back.

Personalization Creates 30% Lift

Category: Planning & Strategy

Tuesday, 14 May 2013 08:00

Looking for proof that personalization works? Consider the case of one historical museum that used personalization to create a lift in donations of 30%

For the past decade, the museum had been using direct mail as its primary way to solicit donations. After years of success, however, effectiveness was starting to wane. The museum wondered if personalizing the message to each recipient would breathe new life into its efforts.

To find out, the museum split its mailing in half. To the first half, it sent a traditional static newsletter. To the second half, it sent a personalized newsletter. Personalization included the person’s name, the state in which they lived, the number of charter members in that state, and prefilled the response forms to make sending in a donation easier. The results?

• Among those actively contributing, response rates increased 30%.
• Among less active but still donating members, response rates increased 25%.
• Among both active and less active members, the value of the donations increased.

Why did this campaign work?

In this case, personalization taps into the recipient’s sense of responsibility to the organization. “They know me — they are relying on me,” not just as an anonymous donor, but as someone the museum relies on by name. When you call someone by name, there is a responsibility that comes with that, especially in the world of fundraising.

Including the number of charter members in the recipient’s state also taps into the sense of collective responsibility. “Look how many other people are deeply supporting this cause. I should be more committed, as well.”

Finally, the prefilled form removed one of the barriers to responding to any campaign—the need to fill out a form, address an envelope, and add a stamp. If all the recipient has to do is drop a check in the envelope and put it in the mailbox, that alone can elevate response.

Whether you are a nonprofit organization or not, the lessons are clear. Call your customers by name, tap into collective responsibility (or collective participation in some kind of benefit), and make it easy to respond. Then watch your response rates soar.

What’s best for B2C ROI? Direct Mail or E-Mail?

Category: Planning & Strategy

Monday, 29 April 2013 08:00

In Target Marketing’s annual Media Usage Survey (2013), direct mail beat out email for both customer acquisition and retention In the B2C world, according to participants. In addition, these marketing-savvy readers indicated that they would be increasing their investments in personalization and variable-data printing in the coming year.

In the survey, more than one-third (31.3%) of respondents indicated that direct mail delivered the strongest ROI for customer acquisition compared to 16.7% for email. In addition, 37.5% said direct mail delivered the strongest ROI for customer retention compared to 29.2% for email. In the B2B world, respondents said that email delivered the highest ROI.

Whether B2C or B2B, if you’re going to mail, personalize it! More than one-third (36.8%) of respondents to the 2013 Media Usage Survey said they were increasing their spending on some form of personalization, including 20.2% who are increasing their spending on loyalty programs. Fourteen percent are increasing their spending on variable-data (personalized) printing, specifically.

Target Marketing reflects the views of marketing professionals involved in target marketing, so this is not an unbiased sample, but that’s what makes these data so interesting. Among people who know, direct mail, personalization, and variable-data printing are critical and indispensible tools. Are they in your marketing arsenal?

Saturday Mail Delivery is Back On

Category: Planning & Strategy

Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:25

If you have been concerned about the elimination of Saturday mail delivery (slated to begin August 5) and its impact on your mailing schedule, you can breathe a sign of relief—at least for now.

The U.S. Postal Service has delayed the elimination of Saturday mail after the Government Accountability Office concluded that the agency didn’t have authority to make the change. The U.S. Postal Board still supports the elimination of Saturday mail, but for now, additional legislation needs to be passed before the change can take place.

Is this good news for mailers? Maybe, but maybe not. The move was designed to help resolve the USPS’s huge budget shortfall and save it $2 billion. With this measure delayed, there are concerns that the shortfall will need to be made up by layoffs or significant postal increases.

What can you do? If postal rates increase, here are three steps you can consider:

1. Increase your targeting.
   By sending smaller, more targeted mailings, you can spend less on postage while maintaining (or even increasing) your marketing effectiveness and revenue generation.
2. Design smaller.
   By using lighter weight substrates or reducing the dimensions on your postcards, letters, or packages, you can spend less on postage. This can have an impact on results, however, so you’ll have to carefully weigh the pros and cons.
3. Test, test, test!
   Monitor and measure the effectiveness of different lists, offers, timing, creative, and messaging. Eliminate what is not working and focus on what is working to maximize your marketing dollars and mailing costs.

Even if postal rates don’t increase in the short term, targeting, measurement, and testing are smart steps to more effective marketing and better print cost management anyway. So why wait?