Marketing Tip of the Week

OK, previously we’ve discussed the price vs. timing issue of the postcard vs. self-mailer or oversized postcard. Now, let’s go to the inevitable question — does size matter?

The answer, once again, is…it depends on your goals!

Self-Mailer

If you have an audience-specific offer that needs explanation in any detail, I would spend the extra money on the larger format. A postcard is 4 1/4 by 6, but a self-mailer (letter rate) can go clear up to 6 1/8 by 11 1/2. That is more than twice the surface area of the postcard.

Post Card

A postcard can suffice if you are mailing to a multi-faceted audience and want to quickly get across a ‘brand-building’ message. A photo/headline combination on the non-address side of the postcard can be very powerful Read the rest…

Funmarketer Tip of the Week

A small business owner friend and I had an interesting conversation the other day: Which was the best marketing tool for his business, a postcard mailing first class rate or an oversize card (self-mailer) mailing at the standard class rate?

Like so many other choices in marketing, the correct answer is: It depends on your goals.

For example, if you mail to consumers (B to C) and timing is an issue, then you can saturate an area quite effectively using a good lettershop, pre-sort, and trucking facilities. If you have enough mail going out, you can control the delivery of your piece to the customer’s door nearly as effectively using Standard Class mail, properly sorted, as you could with First Class mail.

And, of course, your Standard Class mail will be at a fraction of the cost.

But what if you are mailing to businesses (B to B), and you need to control your timing of the delivery of the message? Here you will probably want to mail out a First-Class postcard or, if you have enough pieces, a First-Class presorted mailpiece. The advantage of First-Class in this case is again in the timing. You are going to pay the post office to make sure your mailpiece arrives as quickly as possible.

If timing is not an issue in your B to B mailing, and you have enough pieces to qualify, then I recommend you use Standard Class. The money you’ll save will drop straight to your bottom line.

But what about tests that show First-Class vs. Standard Class improves response rate? Feel free to do your own head-to-head tests, but most consumers aren’t sophisticated enough to pay attention to the difference. If you really think it’s that big of a deal, use a precancelled stamp on your Standard Class mailing.

Funmarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Sometimes basic and blunt and bold can be very effective — especially if you have limited space on your ad. This would work well for a postcard:

Headline: Low on Cash? Stop by Acme Payday for an Advance on Your Check!

iStock photo 7198393

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Funmarketer Tip of the Week

We marketers understand that integrated marketing is rapidly evolving. Twenty years ago integrated marketing meant tv, print, and radio, with perhaps a dash of billboard advertising or a direct mail campaign tossed in. While the concept of enveloping the prospect with multiple media channels continues to be vital, the mix has changed. Today we are more more likely to engage paid search coupled with strong search engine optimization techniques on our websites, and couple these with direct-response mail, radio or TV. Social media such as Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn campaigns are what is likely to be layered on just to see what happens.

But the basics remain the same. So many times I see marketers using the latest internet tools to run campaigns that include the most basic elements — like an offer! Including a strong offer in a marketing campaign should be a “must-do-item” on anybody’s checklist. But obviously, it’s not. The first time my wife and I refinanced our home (many years ago) we received a horrible, one page photocopy letter in a plain envelope. It was the most pathetic piece of direct mail creative I have seen in my life.

It worked. We called the company, set up an appointment, and refinanced our home.

Why did it work? Right offer and right audience at the right time.

Would that lowly piece have won out if there had been three other dynamite mail pieces arriving that day in my mailbox at the same time? Probably not. Yes, good creative and good copy writing is important — hey, I make a living that way. But the most valuable service I ever perform for a client is making 100% sure they include a compelling offer in their marketing. If I haven’t done that, then I am letting them down.

Yes, sometimes clients don’t take my suggestions, or bury the offer under the ‘brand’, but I can sleep in clear conscious if I’ve told them they need to have a offer.

Speaking of the basics, if any of you need a refresher, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style is always a classic. I bought my first copy back in 1979, and have now just purchased my 2nd.

Funmarketer Campaign Idea of the Week

This photo would work good with any product for stress relief, health, or skin revitalization. Here’s a possible headline:

Headline: Need a Break? Try a 30 Minute Soothing Eye Treatment at Acme Spa and
Facials
iStock photo #492773

If you have any other comments or ideas, feel free to respond or give me a call at 402-423-2444.

Thanks and Be Well.
Craig.

FunMarketer Lesson of the Week

Craig, what is Data-Brand Marketing?

The FunMarketer Answer: The future!

For too many years, marketers were siloed into different divisions. “I’m a Brand Image marketer”; “My specialty is DataBase marketing“; “I’m a Direct Response expert”.

While marketers always will have varying strengths and expertise, the traditional walls that separated various disciplines are coming down fast. Anybody that buys Google AdWords knows what I mean.

AdWords at first glance may seem to be direct marketing – and it is. However, now that we are several years into Pay Per Click marketing we are starting to see an interesting phenomena: The power of a company’s brand can have immense impact on the AdWords campaigns you run.

If you have a well-known, well-respected brand in a category, then your brand’s name may actually convert at less than 1/2 the cost per conversion of a generic description. Here’s an example using that greatest of companies, Acme Widgets. Let’s imagine we are running an AdWords campaign for Acme’s ball bearing division.

Keyword: Ball Bearing
Keyword: Acme Bearing

If Acme is a strong brand, people searching for “Acme Bearing” may convert at up to 1/2 the cost and 2X the frequency of people searching for “Ball Bearing”. Why?

1) They already have an awareness – and often an affinity – for your brand.
2) They are probably closer to making a buying decision. Their search is more refined, as indicated by the more closely refined search term.

So now the smallest of companies can affordably combine Data and Brand in new ways to effectively market their products.

Call me for more ideas at 402-423-2444 or email me at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Most photos are fairly strongly skewed toward a Consumer or Business audience. If you’ve spent enough hours putting iStock lightboxes together you know what I mean. Here’s one I like that is versatile enough for either audience. And, if you are marketing to both, then you can use this to pull some good “double-duty” for your compmany. I wrote the headline below with a clothing store in mind, but it could just as easily be switched to a B-B use:

Photo: iStock #6289860

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=6289860

Headline: Time For a Wardrobe Checkup?

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Google Chrome was just launched and here’s how I use it so far. I often work with both Firefox and Explorer open at the same time, and jump back and forth between the two, depending on the task. I have different toolbars loaded onto my Firefox browser than I do on the Explorer browser. I tend to use the Explorer browser a bit more when I’m deep in AdWords, and the Mozilla browser when I’m writing in Google Docs or in my Yahoo or Google emails.

With Chrome, since most toolbars aren’t ready for it (yet) the top 1/4 of the screen is very clean. I’ve taken advantage of this larger screen space and have been using Chrome to watch video and look at photos and project proofs – tasks where the larger screenspace on the browser is a plus. One of Chrome’s biggest strengths is its simplicity and lack of clutter; so for now it remains my third-place browser for the most basic web tasks.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

FunMarketer Lesson of the Week

Craig, where do you weigh-in on the debate between long and short copy?

The FunMarketer answer:

Our ongoing discussion on Brevity in Marketingleads to a good question: how many words is “just right” for good advertising copy?

OK, part of finding your marketing voice is making each word count. For most of us, this means slicing the number of words we use. Think Gettysburg address. But after we hone each phrase and sentence, then what? How many words do we need? Is the briefest copy always best?

No, of course not. Copy length depends on:

* the medium you are using – TV? Radio? Direct Mail?
* the product/audience combination – Tech-savvy B-B niche audience? or retail signage?
* placement in the overall advertising package.

For example, a Direct Mail Package aimed at a consumer might contain a 1,500 word letter, a 600 word brochure, and a 45 word lift-letter.

And the five most important words might be the teaser copy on the envelope. Think those aren’t critical? We’ll, the prospect will never see your brilliant 1,500 word letter if your five word teaser copy doesn’t tug them inside the package.

There is no ‘magic’ number.

Good Luck as you develop your own voice and sense of timing.

Call me for more ideas at 402-423-2444 or email me at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Anybody looking to put the word “excitement” into any ad campaign need look no further.

Photo: Istock #6543160

Headline: Mom, How Soon Can We Go Back to Acme Supply?

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

If you don’t have a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, please pick one up.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Rock Solid”. Remember our value and trust themes during the economic slowdown. Weaving this phrase into your ads will reinforce trust and traditional values with your audience.

FunMarketer Lesson of the Week

Craig, Can you recommend an easy-to-maintain retention program?

The FunMarketer answer is: Go where others don’t. If you:

a) Depend on Repeat Customers and
b) Have your customer’s address

then a low-maintenance method to bond your customers to you is send them cards in the mail when nobody else is. High-value times could include:

1. Birthday Card
2. July 4th Card
3. “Preferred Customer Event” special invite

You say: “Oh no, Craig, we can’t send out cards to customers. It costs too much.”

Really? Acquiring a customer costs between 10 and 50 times what a Card-based retention program does. And if you are like most businesses, it is your repeat customers that support your company. It just make sense to bond them to you with a very basic retention program.

Also, my experience strongly suggests you should OUTSOURCE this function. Send your database to a good service provider and let them take care of this vital marketing function.

Can’t afford to send everybody a card? Then just choose the cream of the crop. If your business follows a classic 80/20 Pareto rule, then you can just peel off the top 20% of the customer list and mail them.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Summer is here and the beach is a great place for inspiration!

Photo: Istock #1693130

Headline: Acme Remodeling – No Job’s Too Small

Alternate Headline: Acme Architects – Practicing Great Design Since 1975

Got any great ideas of your own? Just reply to the Funmarketer blog with your istock number and your headline and subhead (Clean Only, Please).

Oh, if you do use the campaign, make sure you give credit where due.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Use Google Suggest. For those of you who haven’t tried this tool, Google Suggest is a powerful way to explore which phrases people are using on the web. Google will actually tell you what’s popular, PLUS supply you with ideas. Think that coold search phrase you want to use in your copy or headline is the latest and greatest? Maybe, but by using Google Suggest you can find out how many people are actually searching for it.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Supplies Are Limited, so Call Now”. This phrase is one of the more powerful calls to action you can use in your copy. Yes, it may seem a bit timeworn, but remember that this phrase is battle-tested through thousands of campaigns. Remember, a good Call To Action leverages fear to push people into an action – which is often greed-based.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

FunMarketer Lesson of the Week

Craig, what’s the difference between Envelope Teaser copy and AdWords copy?

The FunMarketer answer is: Suprisingly little!

Direct Mail Envelope “Teaser Copy” and Google AdWords Ad Copy occupy the same function in the parallel universes of Direct Mail and Paid Search. Both push the prospect into taking the next action – either open the envelope or click on the ad. Yes each has important differences, but the savvy marketer working in either universe can learn from experts in the other.

The key rule in either universe: “Know Thy Audience…and what they are doing.”

1. What they are doing…

Craig, what’s that second half mean: “…and what they are doing”? Well, that’s the key difference – behavior at the time of the ad encounter.

OK, for AdWords Copy your prospect is searching for something. For right now, let’s ignore content ads – the copy may end up being slightly different for these, especially if you are coat-tailing on a bigger competitors ads (more on that in a later post).

So, they are searching for something and see your AdWords ad…and you want to reinforce as close as possible what their fingers just typed. If they were searching for a “Brown Hat” and your AdWords ad mentions “Brown Hat” then you have a better chance of a Clickthrough.

What’s the person looking at the teaser copy on the envelope doing? That person is qualifying the mailpiece – does it live or die? They are in a totally different frame of mind than the AdWords searcher – your Direct Mail prospect is sorting, not searching.

So guess what – you need a different message in your envelope teaser copy. There aren’t any ‘key word phrases’ lingering in their mind you can then repeat back to them. Instead, you have to literally tease them into opening your envelope.

2. Know Your Audience – then write the copy

OK, for the envelope teaser copy, you will know something about the audience because you will know what lists have worked for you in the past. You have some idea in your mind about who the potential customer is. You then use your copy skills to get them to act. Experienced Direct Mail copywriter Dean Rieck has some great advice on envelope teaser copy. (Check out what Dean says about Business to Business teaser copy.)

For the AdWords copy, in addition to the repeating of the keyword phrase in your text, it’s also important to have a clear Call To Action (CTA). You must tell the person exactly what they should do.

Also, AdWords Maven Jeremy Schoemaker has a neat little trick – his AdWords arrow. Check it out on his Shoemoney post.

Will Jeremy’s arrow trick work for you? The answer is…

3. …Test.

Yes, AdWords is much easier to test than Envelope Teaser Copy. Your results are quicker, A/B splits are easier to control. Remember, don’t just focus on Click Through Rate as your benchmark for success. Conversions and Cost per Conversion are critical to review when you are evaluating your success.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Save this one for a campaign or ad that runs just before the Beijing Olympics start, when all the media coverage is focused on Beijing but before everybody is burned out on hearing about the games:

Photo: Istock #5832009

Headline: Missed Your Flight to Beijing? Race Over to Our Olmpic Sale!

Alternate Headline: Forget Beijing – The Real Race is to Our Store for Olympic-Sized Values

Got any great ideas of your own? Just reply to the Funmarketer blog with your istock number and your headline and subhead (Clean Only, Please).

Oh, if you do use the campaign, make sure you give credit where due.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Develop a corporate Measuring Mentality–even if you are a corporation of One. It’s tough, but if you hammer away at it, you can infect your company with this healthiest of habits. Learn which marketing metrics matter most in your company, then create ways to make sure you measure whatever you can.

One of the best new technology companies for measuring inbound calls generated through paid or natural search is Voicestar. I have worked with them and they are excellent at helping companies capture value. Shoot me an email at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com for more info on them.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Campaign Trail”. I am a bit weary of this presidential campaign. The phrase ‘campaign trail’ tugs up images of the old west, of the Chisolm or Oregon or some other ‘trail’ to the frontier. You might say I personally feel like a cowflop on the campaign trail.

Maybe it’s time to put a widget on your website …. a counter that counts down, not to when Dubya leaves the White House, but when the election is over.

Happy trails….and

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert