One of the biggest marketing obstacles facing businesses in today’s marketplace is that they think, well, like businesses. The conventional wisdom was that businesses told people what to think and what to buy. A business would look at its products or services and tell prospective customers why their product or service was the best choice. The business was in control of the process.

Social Media has turned marketing on its head. The customer is now in charge. Customers now say: “This is want I want or need. Can you meet that need?”

When companies began using the Internet to reach customers, they basically took their old way of thinking and transferred it to a new format. What we ended up with were electronic versions of printed brochures. That approach no longer works, because it’s business-oriented (“Here’s what we think you need.”) instead of customer-oriented (“How can we help you find what you need?”).

This even extends to how your potential customers look for you. When you post things on your website, are you assuming your customers will search for you using the same criteria you use? If you want to capture their attention, you need to think like a customer and describe your products and services using terms that your customers use—not your own in-house lingo.

Here’s a helpful article about how to search Google like an expert. If you learn how to search like an expert, you can set up your business links so that people can find you.

What helps you to “think like a customer”?

A shovel is a great tool—if you want to dig a hole. It’s not such a great tool f you try to use it to paint the wall in your living room. That doesn’t make the shovel a bad tool—it’s just not the right tool for that application.

Sometimes we get a little bit too hung up on tools. And it’s not just men wandering around hardware stores, either. There are all kinds of cool new tools available for businesses to use to promote themselves.  A few years ago, corporate websites were the hot new tool. The conventional wisdom was that your business couldn’t survive if it didn’t have a website. E-mail marketing was a really cool deal when it first came out (and when spam was something that only came in a can). Now there are landing pages, Twitter®, LinkedIn®, Facebook®, YouTube®, Flickr®, and a host of other platforms you can use to get your message out.

The thing is, they’re all just tools! You still have to have something to say. And in today’s marketplace, your message better be clear and it better be compelling.  Just because you have a new tool, that doesn’t necessarily make it the right tool to use. Some of these new tools may really appeal to you, but do they appeal to the people you’re trying to reach?

Marketing today is all about empowering consumers to make good decisions (and that means decisions that are in their best interests). Do your customers (current or prospective) feel empowered—or do they feel overpowered by a barrage of information? Are you providing them with what they want to know, or are you burying them with your “shovel”?

So before you trot out you latest hot new tool, think about what your customers really want and need. Then think about the right way to get that information to them. Don’t just automatically grab the shovel. Pick the right tool to get the job done.

Which tools have you used successfully? Are there tools you’re still trying to figure out?

Everybody knows that Santa is a big believer in having a good list. But he’s not the only one! For years, direct mail experts have agreed that your list (the people to whom you mail) accounts for 40 percent of your mailing’s success. While the means you use to reach potential customers may now include email and social media, the basic premise still holds true: Who you communicate with plays a huge role in the success of your marketing efforts.

For example, let’s say you sell pool supplies and you’re looking for customers. You want to reach people who have pools! People who don’t own a pool are simply not going to buy anything from you—regardless of how great your product is, how wonderful your offer is, or how beautiful your marketing presentation is.

Identifying the right audience is not always as simple as determining who has a pool and who doesn’t. The more specific you can be about defining your audience, the better chance you’ll have of making them an offer that appeals to them—and the more likely they are to respond.

Once you’ve identified the characteristics of your audience, you can enlist the services of a list broker to get the names and addresses of people who are likely to respond. Brokers have access to an incredible wealth of demographic information available that can help you reach the people who are most likely to respond.

Be aware that the more specific your list is (that is, the more defining characteristics you use) the higher the cost of the list. But the more qualified the list, the higher the probability of response will be. And the goal of successful direct marketing is not simply getting your message out—it’s getting a positive response to your message.

Let’s look at an example of how the quality of a list can impact the results of a mailing.

Let’s assume our mailer is selling pool supplies. The offer and the creative package are identical. One mailing uses a general (unqualified) mailing list that focuses on a ZIP code with a high average household income (people who might have pools). The other mailing uses a very specific mailing list that includes only people known to own pools.

Even though the cost of the qualified/targeted list was $1,000 more than the generic list, the net result was an increase of $14,000 in net profit-a pretty good return on the investment! While no one will guarantee that your response rates will go from 0.5% to 2% it is indisputable that-all other things being equal-a targeted list will out-pull a generic list every time.

Regardless of whether your marketing efforts include direct mail, email, or social media, a huge factor in your success hinges on talking to the right audience.

Sometimes we focus too much on how we do things and neglect why we’re doing them in the first place. Let’s be clear: How you market your company is important. Ignoring trends and new technologies is not conducive to growth.

However, you can have the most cutting-edge communication tools in the world. But if you don’t have something to say (or, more important: something worth listening to), it doesn’t matter. Conversely, if you’ve got a message people really want to hear, you can send it by smoke signal and they will respond.

Communication technologies are just tools. While it’s important to have good tools, what’s really important is how you use them. Regardless of what technology you use to send your next marketing message, ask yourself the following questions before you send it.

• Who is my audience? Are they really interested in what I have to say (or should they be)? Will what I have to say help them solve a problem or make their life better in some way (what’s in it for them)?
• Does my audience trust me/my company? Why should they?
• What (specifically) do I want my audience to do once they receive this message? Have I made it clear to them? Have I made it easy for them to take this specific step?
• How will I know if my message was successful? What specific metrics will I use to measure my results.

If you can’t answer these four questions, don’t send your smoke signal. Throw another log on the fire, roast some marshmallows, and take the time to come up with the answers.

It’s hard to turn around without hearing something about Social Media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs are everywhere. Businesses are hearing that if they don’t jump into Social Media, they’re doomed. But sometimes we’re so eager to try the newest thing that we overlook the value of some traditional marketing efforts.

Marketing your business today is not an either/or proposition. Your business should be taking advantage of the great Social Media tools that are out there. And if you continue to ignore them, yes, your business probably is doomed! But sometimes those new technologies need a little help from “traditional” methods. Just going “online” won’t solve all your problems.

One of the biggest challenges businesses face when going online is getting found. There’s no question that more and more customers are looking online to have their needs met. But how do potential customers even know to look for your goods and services? While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been used as a way to ensure that your prospects will find you, it’s not foolproof. And as search engines get smarter, it’s tougher to stand out. Sometimes an “old school” solution can help you get found.

Combining a very targeted direct mail with the web provides the impetus your customers need to seek you out—and find you—on the web. This is something we practice ourselves at TMR Direct. We recently did a targeted mailing (offline) to invite people to an event. The mailing directed recipients to a specific landing page on our web site (online), where they could get additional information and RSVP. And after the initial mailing, we sent out an email reminder (online) with a link to the landing page. We also talked about the event on Facebook and “tweeted” about it (online).

Why was it important to combine off-line and online methods? Not everyone we wanted to reach responds the same way. Some of our audience doesn’t use Twitter or Facebook at all. Some would never respond to a conventional mailing. And while it’s easy to delete an email or a Tweet, people still think twice about throwing away a card or a brochure—if it’s something they’re really interested in.

What’s best for you: Off-line or online marketing? We’d say, use both and track your results. Then adjust your methods accordingly. Contact us about ways you can integrate your offline and online efforts.

What’s your experience with offline and online technologies?

Most businesses are looking for more customers. That’s logical. More customers means more business. Customers don’t grow on trees. And they don’t (usually) just walk into your business. You have to go get them! But many businesses don’t have a clue about what they should spend to acquire new customers. Part of the reason is that they have never stopped to think about what their customers are actually worth.

Some companies use complicated calculations to determine the lifetime value of their clients. But you can use a simple formula that will give you a pretty good idea of what a customer is worth.

Let’s say your average customer spends $100 each time he or she does business with you. And lets say customers do business with you an average of three times a year. So your average customer spends $300 with you every year. If the average amount of time you keep a customer is ten years that means your customer’s lifetime value is $3,000 ($300/year x 10 years = $3,000).

Here’s a key question: What are you willing to spend in order to gain a $3,000 customer? Obviously it doesn’t make sense to spend $3,000 in order to make $3,000. And it probably doesn’t make sense to spend $1,500 if it takes you ten years to make $3,000. On the other hand, if you pinch the penny too hard, you won’t have any customers to worry about. Too many companies have no idea what a new customer is really worth, so they don’t know how much they should spend to acquire one.

First, do the math. Then start looking for the most effective and cost-efficient way to reach those new customers. Contact TMR Direct for some great ideas!

Questions or comments about how to figure out what your customer is worth?

Let’s be honest. Marketing costs money. How do you know if the money you spend to get your message out is bringing you something in return? How do you measure your marketing success?

For some businesses, the unfortunate answer is that they don’t know. Or their “success” is based on how well people liked their campaign.  In today’s economy, that’s not good enough. So what should you measure? It doesn’t have to be complicated (although, as you get better at measuring, you can increase the complexity of what you measure). Here are three things to measure.

• How many responses did you receive from your efforts (whether it’s direct mail, email, space ads, Tweets, landing pages, etc.).

• How many of those responses turned into leads (someone interested in more information or a quote)?

• How many sales did you actually make as a result of the effort?

Make sure you keep track of what you spent as well.  A campaign that generates $10,000 in sales may not be a success—if the campaign cost you $15,000.

Want to talk more about what you can measure? Let us know! We’d be more than happy to help!

What’s important for you to measure?

We’ve all heard of “One-Hit-Wonders”. Those are the singers or bands that managed to produce one song that was good enough (or strange enough!) to make a big splash. Unfortunately (or in some cases, fortunately) they were never able to reproduce that success. Some of them simply moved on to other careers. Others still sing their same song in third-rate nightclubs. One song does not make a career.

Businesses sometimes have that same experience marketing their goods and services.  Often that happens when they focus on the project rather than on the program.  Good marketing is the result of knowing and understanding your audience (who they are and what they need)—and then figuring out how to reach them with a message that lets them know your company can meet that need. Good marketing recognizes that you may have to try several different methods before your audience hears your message.

Unfortunately, many businesses get hung up on creating something clever or cute, or they focus on a gimmick to get people to notice them. They may make a splash with their first effort, but then there’s no follow up. When there’s no more attention, they give up claiming that (direct mail/email/web/social media) marketing doesn’t work. They’re the business equivalent of a “one-hit-wonder.”

Successful marketing doesn’t have to be hugely expensive, but it does require thought and work—and time.  We’d love to talk to you about how to avoid the “one-hit-wonder” syndrome.

Have any “one-hit-wonder” stories you’d like to share?

Business Need:

With the tightening of the construction market, Powell Homes wanted to launch a high-end remodeling division and needed a fast start.

The Objective:

Secure at least 10 in-home presentations and convert at least 3 of them to sales.  Projects needed to exceed $50,000 each.

Target Audience:

Powell Renovations targeted 800 homes in the Normandy Park, Washington area where Brooks and Todd Powell live.  The list was a conventional compiled database based on postal carrier routes for their neighborhood.

Project Description:

Normandy Park is an exclusive area of Seattle, Washington.  Homes are primarily custom or high-end spec homes.  Powell Renovations wanted to make a personal appeal as “neighbors.”  Powell Homes started three generations ago and enjoys an excellent reputation in the area.  Budget was approximately $3000.00.

Graphic presentation on the jumbo card (10”x13”) included a personal letter and photos of Brooks and Todd on the address side of the card, with 4 photos of Powell-finished interiors on the back.

Powell Renovations offered a $50 Starbucks gift card as a thank you to those who responded and came to the meeting where they also received a free home renovation analysis.  Response options included calling Powell Renovations’ local phone number or visiting a web landing page.

Results:

To date, Powell Renovations has completed 8 in-home presentations.  These visits resulted in three renovation projects totaling $300,000.  One project came about months after the mailer dropped.   Powell Renovations also received a call from a homeowner on Mercer Island whose daughter had passed the card on.  The homeowner contracted for a $150,000 remodeling project. Brooks and Todd are quite happy with their ROI of 10,000%!

For more great ideas, contact Patty Coldwater at pcoldwater@tmrdirect.com or call Toll-free: 1-866-396-7048.

Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Who knew that our 34^th President was such a marketing guru? Many business people assume that marketing is all about getting people to do something they don’t want to do (and usually that involves parting with their money). But good marketing is actually about getting people to do something they want to do.

In the world of direct response, your offer is the key to motivating people—getting them to do what they want to do anyway. People already want to be smarter, better looking, healthier, happier, richer, more successful—a better person. Chances are, you have a product or service that can help people toward that goal. You’ve got something they want and you offer it to them in return for something you want (most of the time—but not always—that’s money). What will make them respond?

First of all, you need to make it clear what they will receive and what you will receive (“For only $15 you will receive the book How to Save $1500 on Your Taxes”). If that’s a compelling enough reason to act (and you tell them how), you can stop there. But you may want to add motivation. Maybe it’s urgency (“Order today and you’ll receive this book before April 15, and save this year!”). Maybe it’s making life easy for them (“Order now and you’ll prepare your taxes in half the time!”). Maybe it’s financial (Order in the next 3 days and get 15% off the normal price!”). Maybe it’s additional value (“Order now and we’ll send you updates for next year for FREE!”).

Your job is to get people to do what they already want to do. Your offer helps them to see why now is a great time to do that.

What offers motivate you?

Have a question or comment you’d like to discuss offline? Contact us!