Cross Media Communication

Interactive cross media marketing campaigns create stronger, multi-faceted, communication that builds brand awareness, customer loyalty, and most importantly increases response. 

That’s great, but how do you build that into your marketing mix… and budget?  We get this question from time to time and the answer is simple; a carefully thought out PLAN.

Cross-media marketing is not something to jump into blindly.  It needs to be strategically planed and with the right plan in place you can allocate your marketing budget accordingly.

First, you need to understand your audience, where they are and how they like to respond.  By understanding this you can help ensure you do not waste time, money and effort on channels and response devises that have no relevance to your audience. 

Recently, we had a client say to us “Personalized URLs don’t work”.  We were surprised to hear someone say this, as we have had great success with them and have case studies and references from others who have as well.  The client was a loan officer and after digging deeper into the campaign we learned he was targeting low income individuals, living in multi-unit dwellings such as apartment complexes.  This helped explain why he had a low response rate via the Personalized URL.  Many of these people may not own computers, plus they tend not to be as comfortable with web interaction as they are with face to face or telephone communication.  Understanding who you are marketing to gives you the opportunity to strategically place and tailor your message, offer and response channels.

Next it is important to have a follow up plan in place.  The team needs to be raved up and know how to respond. Without a plan of what you are going to do if these people actually respond, you risk appearing unorganized and will loose potential clients before they even walk in the door.  It is important that the whole organization be prepared.  This might mean staggering your marketing, thus allowing your team time to follow up with the first wave before the next one hits.  Also everyone should be aware of the promotion and its restrictions so they are not blindsided by a customer’s questions.  It is extremely frustrating, as a consumer, to walk into an establishment with their latest promotion and the clerk acts like you are showing them something they have never seen before.  Clients should not be educating employees.   Also it is important to have enough staff and/or product on hand in order to contend with the new business.  A direct marketer learned this valuable lesson the hard way.

A restaurant sent out 10,000, beautifully designed postcards with a great offer.  The response was just what they had hoped for, an overwhelming renewed interest in their restaurant.  However where the campaign fell short was that they did not have the internal staff to support the new serge of new business.  This lack of planning lead to long wait times, subpar service, dissatisfied customers and ultimately a tarnished reputation.  

Finally it is critical to have a plan in place to not only track the leads that come in, but to be able to identify where they came from.  If you use a combination of direct mail, radio advertising and mobile marketing you need to understand where each lead comes from in order to better allocate your marketing dollars the next time.   This step is often over looked yet it may be the most important.

Today marketing is moving from a transaction-based effort to a conversation. This conversation gives us the opportunity to engage and interact with our clients and prospects on an individual level.  Jumping into cross-media marketing without a plan or consulting an expert is not a good move and can result in a campaign failure.  However by incorporating the proper combination of cross-media platforms we can capture the attention of consumers and deliver a positive ROI.   

Why My PURL Campaign Failed Miserably (or The 5 Keys To A Successful PURL Campaign)

It’s funny how we all have the similar desires to want to please our clients and yet when they truly don’t do the right thing, how we say to our colleagues and others how a struggle it is to work with clients who don’t listen and continue ignoring our good advice. Yet, often the good advice goes unheeded because we are not always willing to put ourselves on the line to not “Suggest” best practices, but rather tell them “Your gonna screw this up if you don’t listen to me…”

Ok, fair enough, I can’t recall when I used that exact expression to a client, but recently I was once again reminded that when you do show the passion of your convictions, a client might pause and take notice of your experience and may actually heed that advice to the betterment of their campaign.

I thought about it and put a process in place to help clients set the right expectations and how to ensure sucess when using this technology. If we break it down to 5 Key factors, we can ensure the PURL campaign has every opportunity to be successful.

First, let’s take a look from a high level. What do we want to get out of this campaign? You’d be amazed how often I ask that question and see that deer in the headlights look starting back at me. And I don’t mean the obvious “to get more clients” but the end goal.

To educate prospects on a service or product?

• To drive new customers to a website for a quick sale?
• To showcase a Video on your offerings?
• To reach out to current customers and learn from them about how they use our product and how we can better serve them?

Bottom line: if it is to use a PURL cause people like to see their name and that will get them to respond to our website, don’t waste their time…

Next, let’s look at the follow-up (as it is the most overlooked part of an interactive PURL campaign). Let’s say for grins, it is successful. Maybe a 15-20% response. Wow! One of the most appealing parts of this marketing technology is that it can be truly interactive. We can interact with the website and respond immediately to that person within moments of them connecting to that site. So…

Who will get those leads? and how? Email?

• Do the sales team have access to their email 24/7?
• What will be the workflow of the response?

Too often we have ran campaigns that failed because there was no foresight and the company simply didn’t follow-up on the leads they got. One we learned after a large project, the Marketing Dept never told the sales Reps across the country of the campaign so no one followed up on any of the 18% response they received… ouch…

Ok, we have the reason for the project and the plan for a successful follow-up. Nuts and Bolts time as we look at the 5 Keys to a Successful PURL Campaign:

1. Your Audience: Sounds obvious, but many times people forget how important the data is. Is it properly targeted? How will we communicate? Direct Mail Piece only, or is there an option of also reaching them via email for a multi media approach? Will they be touched once, or a few times over a period of time (this is greatly effective especially with email where the second and third touch can be very cost effective.

2. Piece or Email Design: Tough love for designers… The piece you developed may be beautifully laid out, the colors were so vibrant and enticing, the information so complete… but…  “Uhm, where’s the PURL?” Buried in the upper right corner like the return address… or lost in the design? Remember, design is very important, but so is the engagement. If it is the interaction of the recipient we are looking for. Let’s not clutter the message. One of the most effective and Successful campaigns I’ve seen was a simple postcard with a QR Code and a Purl on one side, and a line of text, “Are they Crazy? You gotta check this out!” Depending on our Goals, sometimes less can result with more.

3. PURL Site Layout: Imagine… I went to a purl website and hit a Landing Page that said Thanks Scott for visiting the landing  page. I then clicked to a Survey Page where I was asked to answer a few questions to better serve them. Next was my contact page. All of my contact info (which they must have had since they sent me a mailer??? And once through that I was led to a thank you page where I then was guided to a client side default website… Real World Gut Check: We are all real busy. If we’re lucky enough to people to actually login to your site, let’s keep the experience as easy as possible…

In general, we want to respect the valuable time of our visitors. Try a landing page that says thanks, can you answer these few questions, and confirm you Name, Phone, Email (these are usually the only pieces of info we need to reach out to them-Don’t ask for more info you already have). Then a thank you page with a follow-up Thanks you email. Instead of a 4 or 5 page site, we now have 2. Much more appealing from a visitor standpoint.

4. Interaction: We once worked with a client where they literally had 90 questions to ask about their product. They also only wanted 10 questions on a page. I offered them a deal. I said I would pay for a purl campaign where we ask one question. “Would you answer a 90 question survey about our company? If the Yes’s won, I’d comp the Survey. If the No’s won, they’d pay me a bonus for saving them a ton or programming money on a Purl that no one would interact with. Although we really want information from our clients, we also should respect their time. Keep the questions to around 5. That should be enough to let you know they’re are interested in you reaching out as a follow-up.

5. CALL TO ACTION: Can’t stress it enough. Think about it, we are selfish. We have much to do and little time to do it. If you want your audience to interact with you, make it worth their while. If you do, so will they. Whether it is a gift, sweepstakes, giveaway, there has to be a reason for your audience to engage. Think about what would make you respond, they might too. And remember, everyone will love your product or service, you just need to let them know about it.

Follow-up: I know I mentioned it before, but this is The Most Important Step.

That’s it. Really, not that difficult. A few simple steps will ensure you have the best opportunity to have a successful campaign.

 Last bit of advice, remember to have some fun with it if you can. If you have the right approach, that is to show your customers or prospects the value in your company, you can’t lose.

 Good Luck!

 Scott

Are Direct Mail and the USPS Dead?

I keep running across articles and people who tell me Direct Mail and the Postal Service (USPS) are Dead. No one is using it anymore I am told. Could it be?    Hmm… well… Not quite.

There is no denying that Direct Mail is on the decline, down some 35 billion pieces in the last year or so to around 177 B. The  USPS is doing everything it can to improve efficiencies and reduce costs but with the really big pension plan (the real killer here), there is only so much it will be able to do. Say goodbye to Saturday delivery. That’ll be history soon enough… but what about direct mail as a medium itself? 

Just look in your own mail box. You can probably see it in your business and at home. Smaller piles with  fewer pieces to read through. Definitely down, but maybe not out… think about it. Less mail could also mean a greater opportunity. The medium is alive and well albeit smaller and more nimble. Ironically, now might be the “Best” time to utilize Direct Mail since the mailbox isn’t so crowded and your message will standout a bit more. But to be effective, it must be combined with electronic channel (like the web, Purls, email…) as a complete integrated cross media campaign.

The call to action used to be to call, or return a card. Today, it is to log onto a website. Bring up a personalized URL that all ready knows a little about you and looking to help guide you along. Technology has and will revitalize Direct Mail and Marketing in general as the industry matures and develops.

So… To those who say Electronic Marketing is the one and only way to Market a business, I say…  you’re nuts (but I say it with endearment). Marketing is a Tool Box, and Electronic channels are just one more tool in that ever growing arsenal.

It’s kind of funny to me after working in direct marketing most of my life… I believe that today’s electronic marketing, like email, Twitter and Facebook are like still children. Sometimes I feel like a direct marketing parent watching them and wondering… what they will be like in ten years?

Which will be the “One Most Likely To”… and which one will be the “Class Clown” …  time will only tell. Can’t wait for the teen years…

Do you think Direct mail is dead???