One of the best tools for direct marketing are the direct mail pieces 
that we send to highly targeted lists. Unfortunately, from time to time, we have recipients who unsubscribe. The reason they unsubscribe is varied, but let's face it, getting subscribers can be expensive and time consuming.
Building a list for direct mail or email is similar, and the reasons that people unsubscribe are also similar.
That being said, it's easier to keep someone on your list than try to find new names to send to. That's why we suggest these 5 tips to grow and maintain your direct mail marketing list and email marketing list.
1. Ask for permission to send the information. Before you include someone on the list, ask whether they want to receive the information. Direct mail can be expensive. It's better to have a small, efficient list that's highly targeted, than to have a big list that has many dead leads. Using mail effectively by targeting qualified prospects will generally result in greater conversions.
2. Consider timing of your communication. Don't send out direct mail (or email) just before a holiday if you don't have a holiday specific message. Also, think about weekends and when your communication will hit. Is your product or service going to be sensitive to seasons? Is there a deadline? How much reaction time does your customer need?
3. Make your communication informative. No one wants to be spammed or solicited. There is nothing worse than getting junk mail, and for the record, it's better to send mail that is going to get read, than put into the trash without being read. If your mail campaign appears to be informative and helpful, you have a much better chance of being saved from the circular file.
4. Your message is on-target. If you have a product or service that is appealing, the recipient will be glad to get the information. It's when you send information that is targeted to the wrong audience, or that feels like it isn't meant for the recipient, it will invariably be dumped.
5. You send irrelevant information. If your information is timely and relevant, that's one thing. Please don't send out old information that isn't timely or something I feel may be important to my business.
What are some of the ways you grow your list? Do you have incentives to sign up? Offer compelling content? What's worked for you in the past?
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
Direct marketing programs create a highly targeted campaign that will yield results. Whenever you reach out to your prospects and customers it's a good idea to assure that you are covering the bases of a well thought-out program.
We work with many companies on developing their outbound marketing programs and we see three very common mistakes that will impact conversions and the sales that result from the direct marketing effort.
1. Missing personalization: By personalizing communications, the direct marketing campaign is able to evoke a reaction. Personalized offers break through the clutter especially when the prospect has been searching for your service. Adding personalized touches creates the impression that the piece was created to serve the needs of the prospect. Utilizing databases effectively will enable the ability to cultivate multiple data points that further personalize the outreach.
2. Ineffective timing: In the rush to get the direct marketing campaign out the door, sometimes we see a disregard or lack of understanding for when the campaign will be received in the offices or homes of the prospect. If the offer is personal, arriving on a Saturday is fine, however most business prospects are not in their offices on Saturday. Timing for a mid-week arrival is typically best, late in the week is less effective. We also see correlation between offers and holidays - where the offer arrives shortly before or after a holiday, there is lower response than avoiding those holiday periods.
3. No compelling offer: If the offer is not exciting or is presented in a manner that does not express urgency, there is less of a response. We have identified the psychological triggers that evoke a reaction, and one of these is the fear of loss. If there is no deadline for the offer, there is no immediacy or urgency by the recipient. Having a finite window of opportunity to react does help inspire action.
When creating a direct marketing campaign, there are other psychological trigger that help to evoke a reaction. Do you utilize any in your campaigns and do you understand how to use them? Which triggers do you use?
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
Social media marketing is the new darling of the business marketing community. It's inexpensive, it's "new" and people are using it everywhere. But what are we, as marketers leaving on the table?
Marketing is the art of reaching the customer. Whether it's traditional media such as print or broadcast, or new media like Twitter or Facebook pages or Google+, the goal is to connect with an audience that potentially would be interested in your product or service.
But the role of direct marketing and direct marketing agencies may have become even more important than ever as part of an ongoing business marketing strategy.
The power of personalized communications, whether it's electronic or print cannot be ignored. A recent Hubspot article that references a Facebook study about personalized communications focuses on those activities that draw us in, those that repel us, and those that cause emotional engagement and memory retention. According to the article, "This study has shown that marketing is about more than just information consumption and cognition".
Creating content that focuses on the wants and needs of your prospect or customer can be electronic, or direct marketing, the difference is that direct marketing will arrive in the hands of the prospect.
Instead of creating direct communication that is vague and general, it's much more powerful to use a direct marketing message that's personalized to the information that is contained within your database and psychographically link programs that have potential for affinity procurement.
Creating personalized communication utilizing digital print has empowered direct marketing agencies with both one to one messaging, and the power of a tangible item delivered to the recipient.
If your marketing program is lacking conversions and you aren't sure whether your social media marketing plan is returning on the time invested, it may be time to turn to a direct marketing agency to review and evaluate your outbound marketing collateral.
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
When creating your direct marketing campaign, there are certain direct marketing best practices that help to improve conversions. One such practice is using language that resonates with your audience.
Some of the best offers with direct mail have ‘magic phrases’ that are more likely to evoke a response than other phrases. Testing these phrases is a great idea in a dynamic media like a website or the Internet... a printed direct mail campaign is less flexible and the content must be immediately engaging.
Magic phrases of direct marketing:
Some phrases and keywords will pull more response than others. Here’s a short list of some of the most powerful phrases:
- FREE. Yes, ‘free’ does work best. Even if used in a way that seems redundant, such as “free gift” versus “gift”, using the word “Free” is a powerful tool for conversions.
- NO OBLIGATION. When coupled with the word “Free”, this makes an offer more reassuring and less scary to jump into.
- LIMITED TIME. Having a deadline for response creates a sense of immediacy. Without a timed opportunity, the tendency may be to put the offer away to look at it more thoroughly later. Giving a time ultimatum moves the importance to a more immediate review.
- NEW. This is a great way to have people take another look. Who doesn’t want to see what the new features are, especially if they liked or purchased before.
- ANNOUNCING. Another powerful motivator - people like to know that they are among the first to view something or to be int he know. Using “announcing” triggers an early response mechanism.
What other words have you noticed that trigger action? Are there words that you’ve used that you find important motivators?
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
The rule of social proof: what is social proof and how can we use it?
One of the key motivational triggers for marketing campaigns is understanding social proof. The concept of social proof is that we look to others to guide our behavior. Part of this reassurance is because we want to fit in, and part of this is because we want to see what everyone else is doing.
There are every day examples of social proof where you may subconciously be motivated to do something. For example, we see tips already "seeded" in the tip jar and that makes us more inclined to leave a tip. We see attendees listed in an evite and we are more likely to respond that we will attend.
The concept of social proof is powerful, but how do you use this as a marketer? Here are 7 Tips for using Social Proof For Direct Marketing Conversions:
- Use testimonials. Sharing the experience of clients enables new clients to feel comforted that they are in good company.
- Use Case Studies. Case studies are important because they provide a background for how you helped others.
- Show similar situations. Using pictures to show clients or prospect using your product are great. The more similar they are to the target, the stronger they provide social proof.
- Announce how many sold. McDonalds used to do this... By listing how many have been served or how many are sold, it helps to influence new users (that many people can't be wrong, right?).
- Display certifications or seals of approval. If you have won awards or received a certification, that means that others have found your services to be helpful.
- Cite favorable reviews. If you got great reviews, crow and share them. Again, they could resonate with prospects, especially if the prospect has a similar situation.
- Associate with respected organizations. If you work with respected media or organizations, that also creates an aura of credibility.
Understanding that sharing social proof can make the difference between conversions is powerful. No one wants to be in a vacuum, and if others are using your services or product, let your prospect know they are in good company. Use the power of social proof to propel your conversions to new levels.
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
'Tis the season to shop, and unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've heard about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These are as familiar to most Americans as Thanksgiving turkey and Santa Claus! One of the customs about Thanksgiving is that it not only marks the season of giving thanks, it also marks the beginning of the holiday shopping rush!
This year, Black Friday (the traditional day after Thanksgiving when retailers anticipate going into the 'black) was a day of major sales events. Consumers were reported standing outside of stores like Best Buy or Walmart waiting for the doors to open. Why? Because consumers know:
- Supplies are limited.
- The offer is for an extremely limited time (1 day)
- If they miss the sale, they won't have another chance
What does this mean for marketers and what lessons can we learn from Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Retailers understand how to use "fear of loss" to their advantage. How can you use the "fear of loss" trigger on a direct marketing campaign?
You may want to think about your last direct marketing program and consider whether the results were exceptional or lackluster. If the latter here are some tips to improve conversions:
- Do your customers feel that your offer has true value?
- Is there a limited window of opportunity?
- Do your prospects feel that they will 'lose' if they do not react to your offer?
Creating an effective call-to-action for your direct marketing effort can be improved if your marketing game plan includes using psychological and social triggers that resonate with your customers.
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
Creating an effective direct marketing campaign begins with determining what the metrics for success will be. By understanding what constitutes and acceptable response, the campaign can then be constructed to established benchmarks and delta improvement over that benchmark.
Understanding the analytic and data points related to the campaign are important to measuring which campaigns perform and which are less than optimal. By creating versions of the campaign and then monitoring response, a predictable model can be constructed which can be employed for future direct marketing programs.
A/B or multivariate testing are best utilized when the sample is large enough for multiple campaigns. At Wilde Agency, we've created A/B tests for our own programs as well as programs for clients. For example, when we sent invitations last year to our marketing Summit, a percentage of the invitations said "FREE" and a percentage said "COMPLEMENTARY". We tested the value of using each work as a psychological trigger. On first analysis, "FREE" out performed "COMPLEMENTARY" by roughly 30%.
Creating an opportunity to test triggers during a campaign gives feedback for future efforts. In our example, we sent a second wave of invitations and tested the audience by offering a VIP gift with one version, and no gift with the other. In a third wave, we tested the concept of limited time offer. Each time we tested, we had a hunch or hypothesis which version would outperform the other, yet testing is the only true way to assure that personal expectations do not color the actual performance or result.
By creating tests and measuring the result, we are able to continue to improve the conversions and ultimately lower the cost per conversion, resulting in greater return on marketing investment.
Have you done any testing on campaigns? Have you had results that surprised you?
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
Direct marketing is a long proven method for reaching a specific audience. With new media or social media marketing, there sometimed becomes confusion with regard to which is better - to stick with the tried and true, or to attempt something different? In a vacuum, they may both seem great ways to reach an audience, but in reality, they are very different. To evaluate these two different ways of reaching an audience is difficult unless you consider return on marketing investment. The investment may be time or dollars, but typically management wants to know which dollars lead to sales or conversions.
When determining the best use of marketing dollars and marketing time, comparing conversions is a great tool. Dependent upon how your direct marketing dollars are invested, conversions can be between 0 to 15%. It's much more difficult to evaluate conversions that are a direct result from social media. Even if social media marketing doesn't have a "price" associated, there is an investment in time that can be calculated to evaluate the 'cost'.
How can you improve conversions?
To improve conversions, using psychological triggers can be an effective tool if used appropriately. For example, a personalized communication will yield a better open rate and prove more effective than a generic announcement. The degree of personalization is the variable. With so much information readily available through data collection services, it’s much easier to sort and differentiate offers by the relative appeal to the recipient.
Understanding behavior and how different offers can correlate into improved conversions is also helpful to improve return on investment. Sending an outbound direct mail piece without collecting information on conversions is a truly missed opportunity. Increasing average ticket could be a matter of bundling offers that have universal appeal as well as adding offers that have specific appeal to the target. Demographics and psychographics assist in evaluating which offers to share with which prospects.
Inbound marketing is using social media and other social networking devices to position your message to be found. How does direct marketing impact inbound marketing? Are these mutually exclusive concepts?
By integrating traditional media with social media, potentially the best of both can evolved into a strong message and program. New media techniques such as QR codes which can be imprinted or embedded to drive mobile messages to a landing page are new ways of incorporating the social web and mobile internet marketing techniques with the power of personalized communications to prospects. The encouraging result of smart marketing is increased conversions and lower cost per conversion, which implies improved return on investment.
In short, it may not be neccessary to select only one methodology to reach your customer. Creating a marketing plan with specific goals and metrics, then evaluating progress towards that goal utilizing various marketing channels may be the best overall strategy.
If in doubt about how to structure your next marketing campaign, we would be happy to offer a consultation to discuss your program and needs.
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
Direct marketing relies upon people responding to your message. Understanding consumer behavior is important to improve the effectiveness and conversions for your marketing campaign. Nancy Harhut recently spoke at DMA2011 about these human behavioral triggers, and for the purpose of this article, we will focus on three of the 13 triggers:
!. People Respect Authority - How can you create "authority" in a direct marketing program? One way to design packages so that they appear serious and official. The size, quality of the paper, the weight of the envelope all contribute to the authority of the package. Dependent upon your vertical market, the packaging may vary. Even color evokes an emotional reaction. A pink envelope is received much differently than a white one. A black envelope with high quality paper and light colored ink will be perceived differently than a white business envelope with a clear cellophane address window. Pick your packaging to appeal to the audience and compliment the messaging.
2. Humans Are Curious - Make the marketing piece interesting. An unusual size or adding some bulk to the package to add dimension will intrigue the recipient. Create a reason to reason to stand out from the bulk. The design can create that curiosity as well. Receiving a beautiful envelope with colorful artistic design or using words to suggest that the message is important will assist in having the message break through the clutter.
3. Gatekeepers Make Deliberate Assumptions - When attempting to deliver through a gatekeeper, it's helpful to create the appearance of being valuable or important. If the item is customized or suggests that it was requested, this helps facilitate the process.
How can you use these human behavior triggers to your advantage? Have you received a direct mail piece or campaign that tickled your imagination?
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.
DMA2011 is in Boston this year, and Wilde Universal and Wilde Agency are sponsoring a Premier Event on Monday night - it's a movie theme at 5:45 on Monday night at DMA. This is a premier for Universal Wilde and Wilde Agency. Wilde was aquired a couple months ago by Universal and this is the coming out party to celebrate.
John Sisson, President of Universal Wilde and Neal Boornazian, President of Wilde Agency discuss "real time marketing" and what that means, and also invite you to their Premier Event!
Learn more and join us on Monday night!
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.