insights.
Aug 31st
Data rarely gets to be the star of the visual show. It takes people who are both creative and data-savvy to conceptualize how data points can be translated into visual appeal. Today’s marketers are increasingly in-tune to both left-brain and right-brain thinking, which makes this the perfect time to consider what data you have and how you are using it.
I recently wrote a report on using Data-Driven Charts and Graphs that is filled with examples, and also contains guidance on addressing common implementation challenges. This report is my attempt to help agencies and marketers plan how data-driven graphs and charts can be employed to make their direct marketing more relevant, more engaging and ultimately more effective.
You can download the report at www.mailprint.com/charts. I’d be delighted to have your feedback. Please feel free to email me directly at rhondab(at)mailprint(dot)com.
Aug 24th
It’s safe to say that Google, the worldwide leader in search, knows a thing or two about beating out competition and increasing loyalty.
Over the last 12 years, Google has built their empire on a seemingly simple function: providing relevant information to their “customers” (searchers). Even with a 70% market share, Google continues to develop their search tool to increase the relevance and personalization of their searches to individual users.
Good news! You don’t need an 11-digit annual revenue to communicate with your prospects and customers with Google-like relevancy and personalization. Let’s look at three techniques Google is using to increase the satisfaction and loyalty of their users, and how direct marketers can do the same.
Above: Google local search results.
Just like you know the physical addresses of your contacts, Google knows where you’re searching from (based on your IP address or account info), and loves serving you localized versions of search results. Sometimes, they even include a handy map to show you how to get to your favorite taco stand or variable data printing company.
Whether you’re locally-based, or a franchise with thousands of locations, geographically personalizing your communications can be helpful for recipients, and increase your response and sales.
Ways to implement geographic targeting and personalization in your marketing:
Above: Google search personalization screen.
Near the end of last year, Google rolled out “personalized search results,” which customizes the results searchers are served based on the search results they’ve clicked in the past and the sites they’ve visited. “Big Brother” fears aside, this optional feature does improve the relevancy of search results, ultimately improving the users’ experience and satisfaction.
Like Google, most organizations store large amounts of data on their customers, including purchase and usage history. By integrating with their customer database or CRM system, marketers can respond to customer behaviors with highly-relevant and perfectly-timed communications designed to up-sell, cross-sell, retain, or win-back customers.
Behavior tracking can also be used in lead generation and nurturing by responding to a lead’s actions, such as a website visit or resource download, with automated, multi-channel campaigns.
Examples of Behavior-Based Marketing Personalization:
Above: Optional Google search channels.
For a while now, Google and their competitors have been improving their tools for searches for images, videos, blogs and other channels, knowing that different users prefer different mediums. With Google’s recent redesign, they’ve made these options even more prominent, helping users access the information they’re searching for, in whatever format they need.
Because there are a finite number of leads and customers out there, it’s important to make sure you’re getting through to as large a percentage of your target audience as possible. You can increase your chances of reaching contacts by serving your message in various mediums (email, mail, online, phone call, text, video, social, etc.). In a study by Epsilon, companies using multi-channel marketing achieved an average 11% sales lift.
Ideas for Implementing Multi-Channel Marketing:
There are rumors that Google is beginning to factor in which entries searchers click on to determine which entries they should serve more prominently, placing the items that proved most relevant to other users higher in search results.
This tactic has been in used by direct marketers for decades, since long before Google was even a twinkle in the eyes of Larry Page and Sergey Brin: it’s called testing.
Whether you’re ready to try geographic or behavior-based personalization, or are considering trying a new marketing channel, it’s important (and easier than you would think) to test audience, creative and offer variations. You’ll increase the ROI of your marketing, and provide your leads and prospects the relevance they’ve been searching for.
Jul 21st
In a recent post from Seth Godin, the influential author and speaker divulges a main difference between mass marketers and direct marketers: the process they follow in creating and scaling their message to reach their audiences.
The comparison below is based on Godin’s main points:
Mass Marketing: |
Direct Marketing: |
| Bets on large-scale deployment to achieve success. | Relies on initial small-scale testing to achieve success. |
| Needs heavy initial resource allocation to push message to entire audience, across multiple channels, simultaneously. | Needs low initial resource allocation; deployment scaled to entire audience as results are proven. |
| Relies on achieving results on the first attempt. | Continually improves results by tracking, measuring, and revising. |
| Success (brand awareness, “buzz,” and sometimes conversion rate) not determined until end of campaign. | Success (conversion rate) is determined at beginning, based on test results. |
With tighter budgets and continued pressure to produce measurable results, the safer, predictable direct marketing process would seem a no-brainer. However, everyone from small business owners dabbling in marketing to seasoned advertising veterans are tempted to rely on their personal taste and gut instinct to determine what will appeal to and motivate the masses. This temptation is natural, but not justifiable, according to Godin:
“The key distinction [between direct marketing and mass marketing] is when you know it’s going to work. The mass marketer doesn’t know until the end. The direct marketer knows in the beginning. The mass marketer is betting on thousands of tiny cues, little clues, and unrecorded (but vital) conversations. The direct marketer is measuring conversion rates from the first day.
“That’s the reason we often default to acting like mass marketers. We’re putting off the day of reckoning, betting on the miracle around the corner, spending our time and energy on the early steps without the downside of admitting failure to the boss.
“Of course, just because it’s our default doesn’t mean it’s right. Business to business marketing is almost always better if you treat it like direct marketing. Most websites that do conversion as well. Same with non-profit fundraising.”
So, as it turns out, the distinction between mass and direct marketing is less about the size of your audience, and more about the process you follow to determine the right messaging for them. Are you willing to devote the time needed to test your message, and do you have the humility and persistence needed to acknowledge a failed test and try again? If so, then you’re on your way to achieving more powerful, scalable marketing.
You can read Godin’s complete post here.