The Little Things
February 15, 2011
Integrated Marketing Solutions.
There's a whole world of outstanding ways to get your mail noticed, opened, read and most importantly, acted upon. The more of these incredibly integrated solutions you employ, and the more often you employ them, the better the return, the more customers, donors, users you have at the end of your campaign.
And that's awesome for those folks who can go that route. It works, and that's been proven. I can post a dozen whitepapers, case studies, and examples of organizations that have employed these techniques, and achieved their goals.
But what about the organizations that aren't to the point where they can fund those, or aren't sold on the concept of direct mail still being a viable and healthy marketing channel? What can we offer them to help build up their business to the point where engaging in those sorts of campaigns makes sense?
If you distill out all the high-tech ingeniousness, the triggered response emails, the stuff that makes us all say “woah” like Keanu Reeves, all that boils down to the little things. High tech solutions have been planned to work a certain way and engage at certain points, email triggers automate the process of placing follow-up calls, and all the other high-tech solutions are built upon the little things that make direct mail marketing work in the first place.
Little things like using a mailing list that has been well-planned to only go to individuals who are likely to be interested in what you're offering. The days of “Spray and Pray” mail marketing are over. Marketing budgets are tighter than ever, and mailing to 10,000 random names and hoping for a 1% response rate doesn't make much sense.
Little things like mixing it up on sizes for postcard mailings and color printing with bold graphics help your mail piece stand out in the daily mailbox. Your postcard has to say something (if it didn't, that would be kind of odd) so why not make it look like you're saying it on purpose with a well-planned, well designed message.
Little things like using the data you probably already have in your own customer or prospect list to personalize your mail beyond just the address line and greeting of the letter. Combine personalization on a full color envelope that uses their name and company, make a great offer and that's a recipe for getting noticed, opened and acted upon.
The high-tech marketing solutions available today are astounding, and really work. At their core, they are all built upon the solid foundation of the little things like planning, design and engaging your audience. If you're not ready for the big solutions, start small, plan well and execute perfectly.
Then get ready to say “woah”.
