When Direct Mail Can Still be More Effective than Email

The WSJ made an excellent point in a piece posted last week about the continued importance of direct mail in the marketing mix of the average small business owner. The article goes on to cite examples of real small businesses who after briefly succumbing to the lure of saving money by cutting their partnership with the USPS, quickly re-instated their previously successful direct mail campaign.

Email sounds great on paper but for most small business, email lists are still an obstacle. They don’t have them and can’t afford to rent them or they can’t find one that matches their target demographics. But they’ve bought into the idea that dmail and postage is too expensive when email is cheap (or free) and so they reign in their dmail budget and do little or nothing in the email space.

Direct mail still deserves a place in your marketing plan though perhaps with a smaller part of your budget.

Gone are the days when dropping generic letters or cards to thousands of rented names each month makes sense. In their place small biz marketers are finding that customized communications to a smaller and more targeted list are not only more effective but can help them stand out. Don’t get discouraged because you don’t read “junk mail.” You are not your client and if your communication looks like junk, then you’re doing it wrong.

A personalized package with customized info sent priority mail to your target will stand out. A hand written note on company notecards will get their attention. A humorous postcard with an exaggerated graphic may be just the reminder they need to keep your name and your business top of mind. Complement the sales calls, emails and other tools in your marketing mix with a good dmail piece and reap the rewards ignored by your thrifty competitors.

When Great Subject Lines Fail to Deliver

Today I received an email with the subject, “I would like to take you to lunch.” Quick and to the point, it got my attention and made me open it. The problem was once I got inside there was a form letter from a man I do not know trying to sell me something that I could not immediately identify. So I deleted it.

Writing great subject lines, like headlines, is a skill. Remember, these are the attention getters that make people want to read more. Like book jackets and magazine covers, these are the advertisements for what is inside. They shouldn’t be an after thought but instead a strategic part of your marketing effort.

If you’re going to compose a great headline, make sure you can deliver on the inside else it is just more spam. Connect your subject, either directly or with a little humor, to the message inside so the conversation continues. Then be direct and get to the point quickly so you can connect with the recipient and deliver on your offer.

On closer inspection, I believe the sender of my message was marketing something to do with events. A face to face made sense for him to market his services but without a clearer articulation of those in the lead paragraph, with a graphic or in a bulleted list or table, he lost me. Think about that next time you’re trying to differentiate your email from spam.

Mailing List Hygiene and the NCOA

When you submit a mailing to a direct mail house, they run your list up against something called the NCOA (national change of address) database. This list of physical addresses is updated quarterly using the information that mailing recipients provide when they move to a new home or office.

In an era of ever improving printing equipment, we’re increasingly seeing businesses manage their mailings in house. Especially for smaller quantities, the benefits of outsourcing your mailing simply for a pre-sort discounted just aren’t realized and if you have the time, patience, staff and equipment to run it in house: go for it. The problem here lies with the quality of the list.

When a business gets the idea to send a mailing, they dig old business cards out from the cracks in their desk drawer, export records from outlook that they collected three jobs ago then pile everything together with their coworkers in Excel. An administrative person (or other poor soul) takes responsibility for “cleaning” the list which essentially means making sure there is data in all of the right fields and presto, they have a mailing list.

The problem is that the people you worked with or sold to three jobs ago have likely made the same migration and now your list stinks just as bad as those business cards you found under the snack food and gooey candy in your desk drawer. And unfortunately even if you could submit your list for NCOA update, individuals don’t file a change of address when they switch jobs so you’re still stuck with junk in your file.

While I’m not advocating you dump those records entirely, it is important to take the time to look at the end product then actively monitor you returns. Make sure you delete records for mail pieces that are returned (pay for First Class postage on the first mailing to ensure you receive those returns). As you slowly add names to your list, be sure each comes with a date attached then don’t be afraid to remove records once you see no activity for a predetermined period of time (this period depends entirely on your business offering). And if you’re unsuccessfully pursuing a certain business that you know is still in operations, it may be time to target a different contact. So pick up the phone and get that name.

Don’t think this advice is just for direct mailers. If you’ve gone to all electronic mailings, the same process and lessons hold true.

Why all this effort? Because owning a list of 500 or even 5000 names that you have never taken the time to clean is just a license to waste money. Scrub that list and you’ll be reaping the reward of a much smaller, much more productive mining effort.

If you’re looking for an NCOA service provider, try Melissa Data.

Perhaps it is time for 5 Guys to invest in new content?

As I left Starbuck’s this morning (with a tall cup of scalding Awake tea in hand), I noticed the graphics in the window of 5 Guys Burgers next door broadcasting recognition they had received from magazines and newspapers in 1998 and 1999. I did a double take it first. I mean, it is 2010. These awards were from two decades ago!

Awards certainly lend credibility to a business but when your latest recognition is from 11 years ago it leaves the customer wondering: are they still any good? If they were good enough for press in 1998 and 1999, what has happened since? Dare I eat there now?

The same line of thinking goes for your print and electronic marketing materials. If you’re still passing out a brochure that celebrates the tenth anniversary of your business in 2007, it is time for a refresh. And even without dates, if you know that you haven’t re-written the web copy on your home page in more than 24 months then don’t think your prospects and customers haven’t noticed.

Content is king. It is the vitality of your communications (not YouTube) and what allows you to shout from a mountain top your most important thoughts and offers. You don’t need an award from the Daily News in order to have something to say. Your experience is your credibility. Your customers and prospects look to you for information on your area of expertise and you owe it to give them timely and updated content.

So this January in the time of New Year’s resolutions, make a pact with yourself to update at least one of the following:

1. Press Release Boilerplate — When is the last time you read this thing? Is it even current?

2. Web site home page copy — Make it about what you customer needs not what you do.

3. Corporate Brochure — If you need a printed piece, great. But make it sing!

4. Your Voice Mail Greeting — really, this is a super easy place to distribute content that everyone except you has to listen to.

5. Your autosig — Besides your contact info, what other info could you be sharing here? Add a link today to a special offer from your firm or a quick survey.

Deal or No Deal: How Would You Spend the Banker’s Money?

Admittedly prime time television must have soured in mid-December when I found myself repeatedly watching the Small Business Owner edition of Deal or No Deal on Wednesday evenings. Unlike the original version of the show, this one features no lovely, leggy ladies with briefcases. Instead the contestants as well as the briefcase models are all real business owners. At the beginning of the show, one lucky business owner gets to compete while the others cheer him or her on.

If you’ve seen the original edition of the show, you know how the rest works. But this little twist is what held my interest.

Each business owner would talk about their dreams and aspiration for investing their winnings in their business. Of course every one wanted the million dollar suitcase but even the $25,000 case had the ability to significantly impact their business.

Smartly HP tagged on as a show sponsor for a $5k briefcase, recognizing the value of this very targeted audience. As a marketer, I started thinking of other sponsors that would benefit from a similar involvement — Staples, Kinko’s, Capital One — but it is the exercise of deciding how to spend the winnings that merits further discussion here and has generated fodder among my clients.

If a million dollar prize would allow you to double your payroll, would you take the gamble and see if you could get and maintain the incremental sales required to pay their salaries in year 2? Would a half million dollar prize allow you to purchase that new office condo you’ve dreamed of? Could $250,000 allow you to take a gamble on a new product line? Would $100,000 allow you plow all of your revenues back into the business for a year instead of taking a salary? Might $50,000 afford you the training you need to increase your rates? With $10,000 could you hire the patent attorney you need to protect your design?

The hypotheticals could of course go on and on. The importance of this exercise is having the confidence and the creativity to dream. While it is unlikely that you’ll ever be presented with the banker’s briefcase, any day could bring you the opportunity to spend a similar windfall if you’re prepared to ask for it.