How to Make Efficient Use of Your Marketing Dollars

Getting discouraged over the results of your latest marketing campaign?  Worried that you are spending marketing dollars wastefully?  Take our three-question test and make sure you are making the most efficient use of every marketing dollar you spend.

1. Do you test and measure every marketing campaign?         Y/N

It is very common for business owners, for a variety of reasons, to use their marketing budget on a series of activities without building in a way to measure the results of those activities.  Put simply, for every marketing dollar you put in, you need to know exactly how much you are getting out of it.  So, when you are planning a campaign, you need to build in a system to track the results of the campaign.  It can be a promotion code, or simply asking the prospect how they heard about you, but it must be done.  Once you know how much revenue has been generated by each campaign over a set period of time (like most marketing campaigns, creating buzz and traffic can take a little time), you can take a look and see where the most effective use of dollars has gone.  Then you can decide to continue, modify, or end an ineffective campaign and use those dollars towards something else.

2. Do you adhere to strict deadlines?                                        Y/N

Believe it or not, the success of a marketing campaign can be determined by the execution of that activity.  You may have a winning idea, but if it isn’t communicated to the prospect within a certain time limit, or isn’t presented to them on a regular basis, then it is not effective.  One of the best ways to make sure you get the message to prospects is to set up deadlines and strictly adhere to them.  For instance, if you decide to start a drip email campaign where you want to touch prospects twice a month, than set the publication date for each month, and make sure it is actually emailed on those dates.  That means that you need to set up deadlines for the work that needs to be done prior to the email being sent out, as well as the actual publication date.  Hitting prospects on a regular basis, with a consistent message, creates credibility, stability, and a sense of urgency with the prospect to act.

3. Do you market to new AND previous customers?                Y/N

One of the most effective uses of marketing dollars is to aim campaigns toward repeat business.  In general, it is cheaper to communicate with past customers, than it is to get new customers.  Repeat customers do not need to be hit with as many impressions as new prospects, so they act more quickly as they are already familiar with your product or service.  Every campaign, offer, announcement, or incentive, you put into the marketplace, should, at the very least, always include past customers as well as the new prospects you are targeting.  The biggest difference between the two: one will act more quickly on your offer than the other.  Your goal should be to continually bring in repeat business while you consistently try to create repeat business out of prospects.

Your Message is More Important than the Design

There is no doubt that graphic design plays an important role in a business’s marketing efforts.  The design is the first thing that customers see.  If it is not eye-catching or attention-grabbing then it is not doing its job.  If the design of the marketing piece stands out in a mailbox, inbox, from a car window, or in a business card caddy, then it is successful.

So, for the sake of argument, let’s say that you have the latter.  That the postcard you sent out was so brilliantly designed that there is almost no way a person could see it and not want to take a closer look.  In fact, your prospects do take a closer look at what it says, admire the design once again, and they toss the piece.  They never call, inquire, or look at your website.  Why?

Many business owners place all of the importance of their marketing on the way things look, instead of focusing on what things say.  If a strong message does not follow the attention-grabbing design, then the marketing piece gets thrown away or deleted.  The reality: a strong message must be developed first, before the phone call to the designer is even made.

The message is the foundation of all your marketing efforts.  It must be developed first, so that all components of your campaign will be consistent in what they say and what they look like.  If you do not have a compelling message to your prospects, then they will not become your customers.  It’s that simple.  What’s not so simple is how to develop this message.

The question now is what does an effective marketing message include?  First, the message should give prospects a reason to do business with you.  In other words, why will they choose you over your competitors?  Not only will this highlight the benefit of doing business with you, but it will speak directly to their needs and how you can fill them.

Second, it must be compelling.  A compelling message will appeal to your audience either through logic and reason, emotion, or will give them a sense of your credibility as either an individual or as a company.  The most widely used appeal is that of emotion.  If a prospect feels an emotional tie to you, your company, or your product, they will act more quickly on your offer.

Finally, your message should produce a sense of urgency on the part of the prospect to act quickly.  In marketing terms, this is knows as a call to action.  A call to action should tell prospects exactly how to act.  In other words, it tells them what you want them to do.  For example, “Call today!  Time is running out!” Or, “Visit us at www.MadeUpCompany.com to get your free quote today!”  It not only directs them how to contact you, but also tells them when to do it.

Your marketing message is the foundation for your business.  Marketing helps create an environment that makes it easier to sell.  The environment is created by the message.  Good graphic design is like having a great looking yard in front of a home for sale.  It is the curb appeal.  It catches prospective buyers’ attention and brings them in.  Once they are in the house, it is the foundation that will drive them to purchase.

Why Hire a Copywriter?

Would you hire a plumber to change your oil?  Would you hire a real estate agent to do your company’s taxes?  Would you have your pool guy redo your driveway?  NO!

Every business owner is an expert in their industry.   Mechanics are experts on cars, so you hire them to fix your cars.  An account is an expert on income, so you hire one to do to your taxes.  An attorney is an expert on the law, so you hire one when legal advice is necessary.  A copywriter is an expert in messaging, so you hire one to write your sales and marketing materials.  If you try to do it yourself, or assign these tasks to an employee, you might as well have your plumber change your oil.  To do anything less is, quite frankly, silly and not a smart business decision.

You’re not convinced.  Your brochure has been working just fine for your company.  Your website, you know, isn’t perfect, but your assistant does a great job keeping it updated.  So why then, should you bother hiring somebody?   The answer is simple – money, perspective, and credibility.

Time costs money:  On average, it takes a business owner 3 to 4 times as long to write a letter, or an article for their website, or even create text for a postcard, than it does a professional copywriter.  Let’s look at the numbers.  An average sales letter takes a professional copywriter, assuming they have all of the necessary information, about 1-3 hours to produce.  This entails multiple drafts, copyediting, and in most cases, a little bit of research.  Using 2 hours as the average, this means it will take a business owner 6 to 8 hours to produce the same piece.   Think what could be accomplished in 6 to 8 hours: meeting with prospects, billing, cold calling, working on lead-generation, staff meetings, inventory management, etc.  Taking the time to work on the sales letter in-house rather than farming it out actually costs a business money.

Perspective: Has anyone ever said to you, either in a business setting or personally, I don’t understand what you mean?  Or asked you to explain something in a different way?  Or, have you ever worked on a sales piece, had it printed, and given it to someone who immediately points out a misspelled word?  When you are too close to something, it is often very difficult to clearly get your meaning across without missing something.  A professional copywriter sees your business from the outside, much like a prospect.  This distance allows them to develop a clear, concise message without muddying it up with extraneous information.

Credibility: Nothing says amateur like spelling and grammatical errors.  And let’s face it, there aren’t too many business owners who are great writers and industry experts.  So why risk putting a message into the marketplace that could cause potential harm to your reputation rather than help it?  Professional writers edit line by line.  They are trained to see grammatical and structural errors that other business professionals are not.  Not doing it right the first time costs you money in the long run, as things with errors need to be rewritten and reprinted.

Direct Mail

Direct mail marketing remains one of the most powerful and economic ways to reach a target audience by delivering your message directly to your prospects through the U.S. mail, or directly into your customers’ inboxes. The beauty of direct mail marketing is that it’s a medium that works regardless of budget.

Benefits of Direct Mail:

• Flexibility: You can mail anyone your message, at any time, using a variety of formats. You can send postcards, letters, color brochures, personalized letters, free samples, co-op mailing, even a bowling ball! The choice is up to you and your budget.
• Targetability: Choose precisely the audience you want to reach and speak to them, and only them, one-to-one.
• Measurability: There’s no guesswork. By tracking and analyzing your mailings, you’ll know the response rate.
• Accountability: When you see how well direct mail works, it becomes a proven justification, a “self-funding” medium, if you will.
• Privacy: Not only can you reach your customers without your competition’s knowledge, but you can also allow your customers to see your message without distraction.

Statistics:

• Studies show that, on average, every dollar spent on Direct Mail advertising brings in $10 in sales – a return of more than twice that generated by a direct television ad.
• Over 50% of recipients of Direct Mail read it immediately, and of those, over 40% found the information they received useful.
• You reach prospects that actually WANT to hear from you. More than half of all American households say they would actually like to receive more Direct Mail or that they would enjoy receiving some.
• Americans spent more than $244 billion in response to Direct Mail in past years.
• By using Direct Mail to reach out to consumers, businesses can expect sales to increase more than 7%, and that number is still growing today.
• Direct Mail has an average response rate of 1-3%
• Direct Mail sales reached $421.3 billion in past years. And sales driven by Direct Mail are projected to increase by $8.3 billion per year.
• In past years, 56.7% of the adult U.S. population placed an order by mail for a product or service.

Newsletters and Marketing:

Why It May Be the Best Decision You Ever Made

The decision to begin publishing a company newsletter is no small one.  Starting your newsletter is a long-term marketing strategy that can serve two main company objectives – to locate new customers and establish yourself within the market.  When done right, your newsletter can work marketing magic.  It can:

• Build awareness
• Expand your customer base
• Encourage repeat business
• Introduce new products
• Build relationships
• Keep customers aware of company accomplishments
• Invite customers to be a part of the business, rather than just a sale
• Establish yourself within the market
• Keep your business top-of-mind with your customers

There are also internal benefits to publishing a newsletter.  Companies with successful newsletters attest that the process of producing the newsletter forces them to define marketing goals and solidify their message to consumers.

Newsletters can also support internal organization.  Newsletters have publishing deadlines and oftentimes they will encourage deadlines for production, whether you are introducing a new product or announcing a new service.  It helps you pick a roll-out date and stick to it, thereby increasing productivity and allowing you to take advantage of all the marketing tools available to you.

Finally newsletters will allow you to renew your passion for building the business and remind you of what got you interested in the first place.  Your newsletter can be a medium to share your thoughts and ideas directly with your customers, helping to build a relationship far stronger than that of store owner and consumer, one now built on trust.  So don’t be surprised if they start looking to you for industry knowledge and product advice, it just means you have a successful newsletter.

To print, or not to print?

So you’re thinking about publishing a newsletter.  You’ve come up with a theme, written the copy, chosen images, and chosen an initial page layout.  Now you must decide in what format to send out your newsletter.  Do you have it printed and sent out as part of a direct mail initiative, or do you send it to your web company for distribution by e-mail or RSS?

When making this decision there are three things to keep in mind:

• Your audience. Make sure that you’re designing and writing your newsletter for your audience, not for your organization. You should routinely analyze who your current readers are, who your prospective readers are, and what information they want. This is called Audience Analysis and involves the study of both psychographics (consumer behavior) and demographics (consumer traits – i.e. age and household income). When all is said and done, however, you know your customers best, so make sure you are writing with their needs in mind.
• Your budget. When determining a budget for your newsletter, there are two items to keep in mind; if you’re publishing for the first time, or entering a new market with an existing newsletter, marketing costs could be significantly higher. If you’re maintaining your current marketplace presence, expenses could be lower. The most effective way to develop a newsletter program (and this is true for all marketing initiatives) is to make a time commitment to a minimum of one-year. Successful marketing has a cumulative effect. Budgeted correctly, returns from your initial investment should increase over time.
• Your time. Being overextended is a chief complaint of the entrepreneurial set. That said, the short answer to using your time wisely: You need to be selective and prioritize your day. Once you have identified your priorities, look at all of your options for achieving them. Newsletter development is a commitment with hard deadlines. Whether you delegate items to your staff, or look to an outside agency for help, newsletter publication should be a part of your day, not consume all of it.

Why You Should Consider Sending Out Sales Letters

Advertising comes in many shapes and sizes.  Some are print ads or postcards, some are commercials on TV, and many take the form of a sales letter either coming to our mailboxes or inboxes.  It’s no secret that sales letters are a low-cost advertising medium that can reach hundreds, or even thousands, of potential consumers.  However, simply sending out a sales letter is not enough.  In order to reap the benefits of this form of targeted marketing, you must make sure your sales letter has the necessary impact needed to keep your consumers’ attention, and that it clearly explains your product or service as well as the benefits your customers will receive from making a purchase.

There are many types of sales letters.  Below are a few examples.

• Direct Mail: With direct mail letters, you are casting a big net, and pitching a hard sell.  You are not only getting your name out there, you are specifically offering a product or service that  requires immediate action on the part of the consumer.
• Retail Sales Letter: A retail sales letter differs from a direct mail letter in the number of people who will receive it.  With a retail sales letter, you are casting a small net and targeting a specific customer base about a new product or service in which you believe they, as opposed to all of your customers, will be interested.  Retail sales letters also give a hard sell, and their main job is to make the selected customers act right away to the offer.  This is an exclusive, selective mailing.
• Sales Promotional Letter: These letters emphasize education rather than the sale.  They are meant to drum up interest in a product and encourage inquiries.  This is not a hard sell.  Rather, by targeting specific customers who would be interested in learning about the product, you keep your company name top of mind and become a primary source for information.  Oftentimes, these letters are to make customers aware of a new product or service they may be interested in, that will be available in the future.

Sales Letters are an efficient and cost-effective way to make sales and promote your business.  Not only are they a medium to announce new products, or to educate your customers, they also help keep you top-of-mind for future sales.  Like most direct mail campaigns, you can expect a 1-3% rate of return.  This may not seem like a lot, but when used in conjunction with other marketing strategies, the Sales Letter can be the difference between making a sale and losing business to your competition.

Your Unique Selling Proposition

Most business people have heard the term Unique Selling Position (USP) thrown around, usually when the subject of sales or marketing comes up. However, few people understand what it really is.

So, what is a USP?

A Unique Selling Proposition (also called a Unique Selling Point) is a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands.

Basically, the USP clearly answers the question, “Why should I do business with you instead of your competitors?”

There are two major benefits in developing a USP:

• First, it clearly differentiates your business in the eyes of your current and potential customers or clients.
• Second, it focuses your team on delivering the promise of the USP, helping to improve your internal performance.

A USP is different from a tagline or memory hook.  Unlike taglines which simply aid in the memory of your brand, a USP promises something unique to your consumers that differentiates you from your competition.  Your USP should have three characteristics: It must offer something that your competition either cannot or does not offer; it must clearly state the benefit to the consumer for purchasing the product; and it must be able to pull customers away from your competition to your product or service.

Developing an effective USP can be a time-consuming event, and require internal research as well as market research.  Spending the necessary time to create a USP, however, can help you increase sales and strength within your marketplace.