4 Things My Idea File Taught Me about Great Direct Mail
Most marketing agencies keep an idea file of creative, interesting promotions by other marketers that serve as inspiration for new marketing campaigns.Since we’re moving soon to new offices (a new suite in the same building in Cleveland, Ohio), I decided to take the opportunity to weed out our idea file, especially our massive collection of direct mail.I tossed a lot of old stuff, but I was surprised at how many direct marketing campaigns created five, ten, or even 20 years ago still pack a powerful marketing punch.I wondered: Why do some direct marketing campaigns stand the test of time? What do these campaigns have in common that makes them so effective?Here are four things our old idea file taught me about great direct mail that you can apply to your smart marketing strategy.
Top 10 Tips for a Successful B2B Marketing Strategy
Are you marketing to business decision-makers? Here are my top 10 recommendations for developing a smart business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy, based on the tried-and-true principles of B2B marketing and my experience as a marketing strategy consultant.
4 Lessons Big Direct Marketers Can Learn from Small Mailers
The marketing budget for a local, service-based business is a tiny fraction of what a global company spends on marketing. Yet small marketers with limited resources sometimes outshine the big guys when it comes to marketing effectiveness, especially in direct mail.Here’s how a regional painting business in Cleveland, Ohio nailed a prospect direct mail campaign with a simple postcard, while Dell, a huge business-to-business marketer, committed several cardinal sins of direct marketing in a B2B direct mail promotion -- plus four lessons for your smart marketing strategy.
40 Questions for a Smarter Marketing Strategy
Are you getting a good return on your investment in marketing? Could it be better?One way to find out is to conduct a top-to-bottom review of your entire marketing plan to determine what’s working and what isn’t.This process is sometimes called a marketing audit. I’m often asked to guide audits as an independent marketing consultant and I recently shared advice on how to do an audit effectively.What specific factors should you assess in a marketing audit? Here are 40 questions I recommend for evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing and developing a smarter marketing strategy.
The 7 Most Important Things to Do with a Sales Lead
Business-to-business (B2B) marketers often use such tactics as direct marketing, e-marketing, advertising, trade shows, and web marketing to generate sales leads.But a smart lead generation marketing strategy goes well beyond the creation of the marketing campaign.If your goal is to build a relationship with a business prospect, increase your sales conversion rate, and maximize the value of your sales resources, you need a careful plan for what happens after the lead comes in.Here are the seven steps you should take with a marketing-generated sales lead to achieve success.
How Bad Direct Mail Can Sink a Customer Win-Back Strategy
Verizon says they want me back. But based on the direct mail package they just sent me, I don’t think they mean it. Reactivating lapsed customers is an important marketing strategy for every business. It’s easier to reengage a former customer than create a new one. If you’re using direct marketing to win former customers back, however, you’d better do it right. Here’s how a major marketer blew a customer win-back opportunity with poor direct mail, and five lessons for more effective win-back direct marketing.
Secrets of the Mailroom Trash Can: 3 Lessons for B2B Marketing
There’s a giant trash can in the mailroom of my office building in Cleveland, Ohio. Every day, it fills up with discarded business mail. Sometimes I peek in the can to see what my fellow tenants have thrown out, and it’s quite revealing. Here’s what I’ve observed as a casual mailroom trash inspector, and three valuable lessons from this experience for business-to-business marketers who want to develop a smart marketing strategy.
How a Sloppy List Can Sabotage Your Email Marketing
Savvy direct marketers know that the list is the most important factor in the success of a direct marketing campaign. That’s why so much time and effort goes into keeping mailing list data current and complete. But too many direct marketers fail to pay this same kind of attention to the cleanliness of their email lists. Case in point: The Wall Street Journal. Here's how a major marketer's poor email list hygiene ruined their promotion, and five lessons you can apply to a smart marketing strategy.
A Direct Mail List Mistake Lives On Forever
Ms. Jean Gianfagna is tired of getting Mr. Gean Gianfagna’s mail. When I started a marketing consulting business in Cleveland in the early 1990s, someone who was compiling a direct mail list of small businesses made a typo in my name. I became Gean Gianfagna on this list and the compiler assumed that I was a man. It’s hard to believe, but nearly 20 years later, I still get direct mail addressed to Mr. Gean Gianfagna. This address has been so wrong for so long that I instantly discard any mailing that uses it. But it’s more than an ongoing annoyance: It’s an example of poor list hygiene and bad marketing strategy.
Turn Leads into Sales with a Smart Marketing Strategy
The phones are ringing, web traffic is up, and the sales manager is telling everyone you’re a marketing genius. Your business-to-business lead generation campaign is a success! But before you break out the bubbly, remember that getting prospects to express interest in a product or service can be the easy part of business-to-business marketing. Converting those leads to sales is often a lengthy and complex process. Here's how to build a smart marketing strategy that engages B-to-B prospects and gets them to say "yes."
Why Direct Marketing Campaigns Fail: 7 Common Mistakes
Direct marketing can be one of the most powerful elements of a smart marketing strategy, especially if you need to generate leads for a field sales force.But strategic errors can doom your direct marketing campaign to failure. Here are seven common mistakes in direct marketing strategy and ways to avoid them.
10 Tried-and-True Principles of Creative Direct Marketing
Is direct marketing part of your smart marketing strategy? Here are 10 tried-and-true principles for developing a high-impact creative approach for your next direct marketing campaign.
When Bad Marketing Happens to Good Customers
Loyal customers are a marketer’s best source of new sales and referrals. That’s why smart marketers treat their best customers like gold, and why earning customer loyalty is the goal of every smart marketing strategy. Except at Toyota. Their recent direct mail campaign to a loyal Toyota customer broke many of the rules of effective direct marketing and harmed a 25-year customer relationship. Here's why this campaign failed and what Toyota should have done instead.
How to Create a Great Direct Marketing Offer, Part 2
What should you offer to generate higher response to your direct marketing campaign? Here are ideas for producing orders, generating leads, and driving retail traffic through an effective direct marketing offer.
How to Create a Great Direct Marketing Offer, Part 1
After the list, the offer is the most important element of a direct marketing campaign. In the first part of a two-part post, here are the basics of creating a great offer for your next direct marketing campaign.