Social Media and Direct Mail

http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/paul-gillin-social-media-direct-marketing-406935_1.html

Target Marketing

Paul Gillin on Social Media and Direct Marketing
By Ethan Boldt, editor-in-chief, Inside Direct Mail

I’ll begin with your question: What on earth does social networking have to do with direct mail? Not much … yet.

Look at this statistic courtesy of TechCrunch: In November 2008, Facebook drew 200 million unique worldwide visitors; more than one in five people who accessed the Internet that month visited the site. That’s a lot of folks; that’s a veritable community that may be more friendly to direct mail than you think, especially if you mix the two together skillfully.

To get the right recipe, I spoke with Paul Gillin, author of the recently released “Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business!”, which was a follow-up to “The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media.” Former editor-in-chief of TechTarget and Computerworld, Gillin now advises businesses on how to use social media to support their marketing initiatives.

Boldt: Many direct mailers consider social networking as an unrelated, foreign channel.
Gillin: It’s true. I haven’t seen a lot of initiative coming out of direct marketing organizations; rather, it’s usually been on the public relations side, or the more conventional marketing communications side, that takes the initiative. It’s a career-enhancing move to lead the social media charge. It doesn’t have to be the marketing department.

Boldt: You write, “Community is content.” Can you explain?
Gillin: There are several dimensions to that. Community support can be a very cost-effective and rich alternative to dedicated paid support. … You have a problem with your PC; you can find a forum where there is a community of people answering questions. I also find that a community can generate content that can be used in different ways, and there are branded social networks that are doing this—where the company is not actually contributing a lot of content to the group; rather, the company kind of seeds the group with questions and provocative thoughts and gets people stirred up and talking, and the people take it from there. You’ll see this on any successful blog, where all of the content is contributed by the readers—so you don’t have to have one to two authors who are doing it all. Of course, the more members there are, the richer the content is.

Boldt: Does the direct mailer, having created such a community on the Web, have to have a hand in there somewhere?
Gillin: There’s different kinds of hands. You can have an active hand, as a moderator or facilitator, and you’re interacting with people and stirring up discussions. And then there is the hand that is guiding what the community is used for, which I think is more appropriate for direct marketers—for example, if you want to do a contest using your community members and the results of that contest will be made into a printed piece that will be mailed. That will be a case where the direct marketer would be actively involved in the community, with an end goal of producing something with that interaction. Another example may be using a cross-registration where somebody picked up a mailing and registered and becomes part of a community and signs up for additional mailings, or coupons or discounts, as a result of that interaction.

Boldt: Is it connected to loyalty marketing?
Gillin: Yes. Loyalty marking has traditionally been occasional and fragmented; people go in to the store once a week or once a month, and there’s some sort of interaction. And then they go away, and nobody talks to them again. The community aspect is, if you attract people around a topic that is really compelling to them, you can interact with them every day or every other day because they’re coming back and finding out more and learning more, and that’s all part of the involvement with your brand. The role there is to step up the frequency and volume of contact with the customers so they feel that they really are part of a group, part of a company.

Boldt: Does social networking ultimately help enhance your marketing message?
Gillin: If it’s done right, the community should actually help you define message. We don’t control our brands anymore. Brands are controlled by our constituents. We have a role in shaping the brand, of course, but branding is now a process of constant back and forth with the people who will interact with these brands. So the community can be very helpful by telling you what’s working and what isn’t—testing things, like a direct mail piece. Why not consult those people on that piece? You can also use it to spread the word—if you’ve got fans of your company, they want to help you as dedicated customers usually do.

Boldt: What direct mail sector, if any, is doing a decent job with social networking?
Gillin: Nonprofits. They are so cost-challenged that they are always looking for more efficient ways to reach people. Nonprofits often have passionate members, so you’re going to have a lot of success getting those people to join a network and interact with others. Social media is a low-cost channel; you don’t have to deal with government regulations and compliance issues.

Boldt: Is there any risk attached to this?
Gillin: Sure, because you can’t control what people say, and people have a megaphone compared to what they had a few years ago. If it’s not a true dialogue and you’re just spraying marketing messages at them, they will react, and will react decisively, and you won’t like what they [do]. It demands an open, 
transparent conversation with people; you can’t have hidden agendas and try to sell them something because not only will they walk away, they will also make nasty comments on [these spaces on their way out].

This article originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Inside Direct Mail, a sister publication to Target Marketing. To learn more about Inside Direct Mail, visit www.insidedirectmail.com.

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5 Answers About Getting Envelopes Opened

http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/5-answers-about-getting-envelopes-opened-407005_1.html

Target Marketing

5 Answers About Getting Envelopes Opened
By Ethan Boldt, editor-in-chief, Inside Direct Mail

Like other industries, direct mail has been hurt by the current economic woes, but its original challenge is steadfast: get the prospect to open your envelope. This challenge was faced head on by direct marketer and copywriter Alan Rosenspan, president of Alan Rosenspan & Associates, during Inside Direct Mail’s recent webinar “21 Ways to Get Your Envelope Opened.”

In the ensuing hour, Rosenspan engaged the audience with effective techniques to test in order to make opening the envelope practically irresistible for prospects. At the tail end of the webinar, attendees flooded Rosenspan with questions, many of which he couldn’t tackle before the hour ended. Instead, he answered them individually, and here are some of those questions and answers that all direct mail marketers may find valuable.

Question: What is your take on having testimonials from users or actual user photos on the [outer envelope]?
Rosenspan: I love using testimonials as much as possible. And I used them on the outer envelope for [an] Advanta [campaign I developed]. I would be a little reluctant to show the person, since this will make the envelope look too promotional. Also, one great testimonial on the OE is probably better than several. Fundraising companies do it all the time—and it can work very effectively.

Question: Have you tested stamps vs. indicias? If so, which outpulls the other and by how much?
Rosenspan: Stamps have always outpulled indicias, so much so that we don’t bother to test that anymore. Even bulk stamps. This is especially true in business-to-consumer, where your goal is to make the envelope look like it came from a real person—not just a company.

Question: What do you think of a mail piece that folds over a BRE? Does that fall into the less successful self-mailer category?
Rosenspan: We have used this technique, and it does seem to perform better than just a postcard or a traditional self-mailer. That’s because it allows the person to send in their response in a closed-face envelope, instead of an open card.

People are very concerned with identity theft and privacy these days. But I would still test an envelope package, and I’m willing to bet it will do better.

Question: Are most backs of the outers blank, or do you just think the front is the most important?
Rosenspan: I think the front of the envelope (or where the name and address is) is probably most important, but why waste the back? But once again, you have to be careful. Don’t just give me additional information; give me something that compels me to open the envelope.

Question: Why does an envelope perform better than a postcard?
Rosenspan: Three reasons, I think. One, opening an envelope is a “mini-commitment” to spending more time on what’s inside. (And the more time someone spends with your direct mail or e-mail, the more likely they are to respond.) Two, it allows you to include a real letter, which is the most important part of a direct mail package. Three, it just does. Test it, and you’ll see.

Copyright ©2009 | North American Publishing Company | All Rights Reserved
1500 Spring Garden Street, 12th Floor | Philadelphia, PA 19130 USA | (215) 238-5300
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How B2B Technology Marketers Can Use Personalized URLs (PURLs) to Increase Lead Generation and Sales Conversions

Here is an interesting article on how to use PURLs in the B2B space. We have had similar experiences as mentioned in the article. I would also add that PURLs can be used to increase sales by contacting prospects when they are interested in products or services. We have a client that is currently executing a B2B direct mail campaign that utilizes a PURL. When recipients request information on the client’s services a sales rep is immediately notified. The rep calls the prospect while they are still interested. Our client is closing 30% more sales through the use of the PURL.

Call us with questions.

Bob Stuart
Vermillion, Inc.
800-258-6228

How B2B Technology Marketers Can Use Personalized URLs (PURLs) to Increase Lead Generation and Sales Conversions

Brought to you by Kim Cornwall Malseed at MarCom Ink
B2B Technology Marketing that Drives Lead Generation and Sales

If you’re like me, using caller identification, email spam filters, and your front door peephole to avoid unsolicited, irrelevant sales pitches from unknown sources have become a normal part of everyday life at home and work. Having hectic lives means we are fiercely protective of our precious time.

But what if you received information from an organization that was completely personalized for you, so much so it felt like the company knew you already, and offered you a way to engage with the company on your terms and on your timeframe, not theirs? If the company can help you solve a significant problem or strongly aligns with your interests, I bet you would give up some of your precious time to find out more.

Now put on your marketing hat and think about your organizations’ current lead generation and sales conversion rates. If they could use improving (and whose couldn’t), using personalized marketing with your potential customers could significantly increase them.

What are Personalized URLs?
Enter Personalized URLs, known as PURLs (pronounced ‘pearls’). They are created based on the contact data already in your database or CRM system. For example, a PURL could be www. companyname.com/customername or contain other personalized information based on the name of the promotion or the target’s identity, demographics, and other details derived from the customer profile.

When a recipient accesses their own PURL, either through clicking a link in an email or typing it directly into their web browser, they will be taken directly to a web landing page or microsite that describes a specific offer or promotion in greater detail. In many cases, this landing page will prompt the user for more information or take the recipient to an online ordering page. Subsequent communications with the user can be even more highly personalized based on this additional information supplied by them.

PURLs Enable Hewlett-Packard to Achieve 31% Sales Conversion Rate
In their Landing Page Handbook, MarketingSherpa profiled the success the education services division of HP achieved by using PURLs along with a direct mail campaign to sell training courses that were valuable but costly.

Instead of sending an expensive course catalog to all their prospects, HP used the prospect data already in their database to mail them a personalized postcard urging them to go their personalized web page. Once on the web page, prospects were presented with an offer for a course nearest to their location that matched their career path and previous courses taken, which was pulled from information about prospects in HP’s database.

The campaign resulted in 8.7% of print postcard recipients going online to see their personal web pages, while 63% clicked around to learn about their options. Thirty-one percent of those ultimately purchased an education course.

One point to note about this campaign is that it was to prospects that were already HP customers or had some contact with the company previously. But even for an “up-sell” type campaign 31% conversion is impressive.

Personalized Marketing Experts Answer PURL FAQs
To learn more about PURLs and how to use them effectively, I turned to OnDialog Chief Executive Officer Clara Conti and Chief Technology Officer Craig Heartwell. OnDialog are providers of a Web-based landing page, microsite and PURL solution to support campaign and promotional marketing.

Kim: I’ve received marketing materials in the past with my name and a PURL on them directing me to a personalized landing page, but once on the page the content was generic and didn’t apply to me individually. What’s different about using PURLs today?

Craig: Promotions using PURLs that have your name in it but not much personalized, relevant information once your landing page is visited is what we call PURL 1.0. The technology to create and manage PURLs and web pages has advanced significantly to what we call PURL 2.0, changing some key factors:

• Prospective customers can now opt-in to receiving marketing
• Contacts voluntarily submit more information about themselves over time
• PURL landing pages dynamically become progressively more detailed and relevant as contacts submit more specific information about themselves

Kim: How effective are PURLs for sales conversions?

Clara: If PURL campaigns are setup and executed effectively, companies who use email to drive prospects to their PURL web pages typically see around a 5% conversion rate, but in rare cases we’ve seen customers experience as high as 30% conversion. However, companies who use targeted social media avenues such as blogs and Twitter to drive highly qualified leads to their personalized web pages can experience conversion rates as high as 80%.

Kim: What are the frequent mistakes marketers make when using PURLs, and how can they be avoided?

Craig: It’s important to remember that PURLs are not a magic bullet solution, and without some essential campaign elements they won’t be effective. Some common mistakes we work with marketing professionals to correct include:

• Adding PURLs to an existing general marketing campaign – Start from scratch and build a highly targeted campaign centered around valuable content that immediately engages prospects and drives them to take your call-to-action.

• Failure to confirm accuracy of prospect information in database or CRM system – Effective PURL campaigns can’t be executed without accurate prospect information, such as correctly spelled names and email addresses, or having complete prospect profiles that aren’t missing key data.

• Not putting enough support resources behind the campaign – Multi-channel marketing efforts, such as using email, direct mail, and social media to drive lead generation and sales conversions with PURLs are much more effective than only using one tactic. Often marketers will send one or two emails and expect that alone will generate results, which it will, but not nearly as effectively as combining email and other methods together.

Having a long-term lead nurturing campaign following the initial interaction with prospects is particularly important for B2B marketing where the buying decision isn’t immediate and could take weeks or months.

• Failure to test results and optimize campaign – Paying close attention to how prospects are reacting to various campaign elements and optimizing the campaign over time based on what they’re showing you are keys to getting the highest conversion rates.

Kim: How can marketers justify the additional costs of PURLs to their company executives, particularly when they’re just getting started and don’t yet have results to show?

Clara: Productivity increases significantly because personalized marketing campaigns can go from concept to execution in days instead of weeks or months. Marketers can create them entirely on their own, eliminating the need for IT managers and website designers who normally would be required to assist.

Not only can campaigns be created more quickly, but managing them and tracking results all in one system enables marketing pros to quickly and easily optimize campaigns over time for the highest possible conversion rates.

The return on investment also increases over time, as once successful campaigns are implemented, organizations can use the knowledge gained to repeat their success when targeting future prospects.

Kim: What should marketers be aware of when evaluating potential PURL solutions?

Craig: There are a number of PURL solutions available for both small and large organizations, each with varying degrees of functionality and available services and customer support levels. Some things to keep in mind include:

• Ease-of-use – Some solutions are very easy to use for non-technical people, while others require some knowledge of website development in order to use them effectively. Make sure to do a test drive of the solutions on your own to ensure you’re comfortable using them.

• Hidden fees – There is quite a bit of poor information out there on what is involved in implementing PURL solutions, particularly around the costs. Some providers promote low solution pricing but their fees for customizing the product to fit customer needs and implementing the solution after the purchase can be quite high, so be sure to get a firm answer on those costs during the selection process so there are no surprises later.

• Built-in database or CRM integration – Ensure the solution you choose can be easily connected to your prospect database or CRM system like Salesforce.com so that both solutions work together as a closed-loop system.

• Line up your campaign requirements first – Often marketers look for a solution first then plan their campaign around what the solution can do. Determine what your specific needs are for effectively creating and managing PURLs and their supporting landing pages and microsites, and then find a solution provider who meets them.