Your marketing's working, but your follow-up stinks

Not a day goes by where I don't notice missed opportunities in marketing. Over the past three weeks, my husband and I have had six companies come in to assess some issues we're having with our crawl space and excessive moisture levels in our home. When it comes to choosing what companies we might want to talk to, I picked them based on seeing their marketing -- advertisements in community magazines or direct mail sent. In my line of work I save every piece of direct mail I receive, so I usually turn to my "pile" to pull contractors. I then look them up on Angie's list to see their reviews, volume of business and published estimates from past clients with a similar scope of work.

Normally I don't call in six companies for estimates, but this time we were receiving conflicting approaches and we really needed more advice before moving forward and spending thousands of dollars. All of these people spent between one and two hours at our home in order to investigate our problem. Five of the companies were leading crawl space remediation companies, and the other was an HVAC company -- a company we just spent 10k with just over a year ago when we replaced both AC units and furnace.

About half the companies provided written estimates on the spot. The others did more of a wishy- washy verbal dance and either left things open, or told me they'd send me an invoice.

The companies I called all had spent money on marketing and direct mail. Their efforts were successful, as they scored a response and a lead. The industry standard used in direct mail to calculate ROI on direct mail indicates that 50% of all responses will lead to a sale. You've sent your direct mail. A prospective customer calls you. Now what?

Out of the six companies, we only had ONE follow-up with a phone call. I even followed up with one company (where the owner met with me), and sent him an e-mail apologizing that my husband was out of town and we hadn't had time to talk and make a decision. He didn't respond back at all, even when I reached out first. Some may wonder what the big fuss is about following up if you provided a written quote. Following up does two things: 1) it makes your prospect feel valued 2) it shows that you are so confident enough in what you're selling or your capabilities that we need to choose you.

Now we're stuck. The only one who followed up was the only one we had ruled out entirely. We're having a hard time wanting to spend money with anyone who hasn't bothered or cared enough to follow up. The one guy that impressed me the most came out last Thursday. As it was before a long holiday weekend, he indicated it might be Monday before he would send me an estimate. A little longer than I wanted to wait, but I had a good vibe from him and liked his approach. Monday came and went....it's now Friday, and there's been no follow-up at all eight days later. This was the owner of the company, himself, so there's just no excuse for dropping the ball.

For the life of me, I don't understand how all these companies can afford to spend money on advertising (not to mention taking 3 hours between drive time and time spent assessing our problem) and not close the sale by following up. I'm also dumbfounded that the owner of the HVAC company we spent a lot of money with in the past has not reached out to me to follow up. It costs seven times more to attract a new customer, as opposed to keeping a current customer. The owner had spoken with me on the phone, but sent a very young technician out to pitch installing a dehumidifier in the current system, instead of in the crawl space. We were ready to pull the trigger using two of the contractors -- one to fix the French drain issue and the HVAC folks to install the dehumidifier and UV light.

The only thing I can think is that perhaps they've convinced themselves that it takes X number of sales calls to get a sale. Instead of just accepting that it takes that long, why not change the way you operate and make that conversion rate higher than the industry average? Business owners need to be thinking why a homeowner would go with Contractor A over Contractor B. It's not dumb luck, people. It's all in the follow-up, and this is the easiest fix in the world. You shouldn't spend thousands of dollars on marketing, if you're not willing to invest 20 seconds to send a quick e-mail to follow-up with your prospects.

Here I sit waiting to spend money and fix a problem, but not feeling valued as a customer. If you're reading this and can fix my crawl space issues, now would be a good time to call.

The quantity of your advertising response rate is not what matters, folks

In advertising and direct mail, most people get hung up on calculating the response rate of a particular campaign. I always enjoy meeting with new clients when they share their real life examples that illustrate these marketing concepts so well.

This potential client owns a high-end consignment store. She had been running ads in some area publications, and had great results in terms of traffic in the door. Unfortunately, the ads weren't targeted and were attracting everyone instead of the very select group she wanted to reach. She found she was burning eight hours of staff time to inspect/analyze hundreds of items, only to accept a handful of items for her high-end consignment store. She would have been better off with one quality person responding, rather than dozens of people her staff was turning away.

She called me to meet with her to develop a postcard campaign that would only hit 2-3 neighborhoods -- where she feel her best targets live. Instead of mass advertising in newspapers and magazines reaching tens of thousands each month, this business owner will be far better off narrowing her focus down to 2,000-3,000, resulting in quality responses for her business.

This same logic applies to a number of industries. If you're a landscaper, you know the bulk of your revenue comes from large landscaping installation projects and not the occasional mowing or treatment jobs. If you are advertising to the masses, instead of the smaller demographic where those large installation projects typically live, you're likely wasting money that could be better spent elsewhere.

To determine what targets are best for your business, sometimes it means taking a step back and "redefining" who you want to be. Are you a high-end, luxury painter who specializes in faux finishes? Then you should only target markets where quality trumps cost. If you are a high-end painter advertising in every neighborhood, you're likely getting calls from people you know will never hire you because the second painter they call for an estimate will give them a better price. Think of the time and energy spent driving to certain neighborhoods to provide people with estimates, when you know the conversion rate to an actual sale is low. Conversely, if you're a painter who offers affordable pricing, then you should target those markets where people care more about the value than quality. You might land some jobs for people with luxury homes, but you'll find that their expectations are likely beyond what your crew typically delivers. You could find yourself losing money in the long run with the amount of excessive touch up work required.

While we all like to see high response rates when we advertise, what really matters is the quality of those responses. Learning to focus and "let go" of the targets that are not generating quality leads will save your business considerable time and money.

You can't use a cookie cutter to build a stand-out brand

I can't tell you how often I receive direct mail postcards in my mailbox that use cheap and junky looking templates -- you know the kind, insert [your own photo] here...insert [your own contact information] there. The themes are meant to apply to thousands of businesses in each product category. The whole point of advertising your business is to stand out from your competition, so why would you want to be lost among the sea of generic templates?

It drives me nuts to see so many people continuing to use these novice approaches in marketing -- especially given that these generic postcards are not even saving people money for the most part. When I receive these postcards in the mail, I immediately think that if this person doesn't value themselves enough to craft a message that's unique to their brand and the benefits they provide, I'm not calling them...ever (unless it's to pitch my own services to redesign a more compelling postcard).

I recently received a postcard from a local realtor. Without mentioning any names or specific tag lines, their tagline drew upon their vast experience serving Lake Norman's communities. The problem? It was a generic template which used [a lake] in the background. Last time I checked, our beloved Lake Norman had no mountains behind it. So, if you're trying to convince me that you're the local experts and how much you love serving Lake Norman, you've lost me. The postcard comes across as looking unprofessional and disingenuous. They probably spent a few thousand dollars on a mailing that actually damaged their brand and image.

If you are committing the money to spend on direct mail, why settle for anything less? You have the opportunity to be spot-on with your message, your brand, and incorporate the same recognizable fonts and colors from your business card or other marketing material. Template postcards depart from your brand and aren't helping you establish that repetitive and familiar engagement with your target audience.

So, how could the Lake Norman realtor team's postcard been effective? For starters, they should have used an image of Lake Norman that we'd all be familiar with -- it could have been taken from the shores of a familiar place like Jetton Park or the dock at one of the area yacht clubs. It would have shown them -- a friendly, smiley team standing by the lake. This conveys the sense that they are a part of the community here. The postcard should have used the same colors and fonts as their other advertising (which I've seen them do quite well in other venues).

Another example for building your brand and setting yourself apart comes from the realtor team that gave me the idea for starting this business to begin with. My next door neighbor was a realtor when I lived in The Farms a few years ago. She showed me something that her office assistant did with amateur software and had printed at a local office supply store. The postcard was flimsy and had an awful mix of bad fonts and horrible background textures (burlap, to be specific). When she told me these cost her somewhere around .40/card to have printed, I had to step in! I was able to provide her with a completely custom postcard at a fraction of the cost that utilized the same tan and pine green colors throughout our community's other marketing material. While they weren't associated with Crescent Communities, the subtle use of the community's color scheme set the impression that this team was a part of this specific community.

We did two versions of the postcard -- one was only for residents in the community. The realtor team introduced themselves as fellow homeowners and talked up their value as realtors since they lived and breathed this community day in and day out. It was a very specific message to a very specific group. The second version of the postcard was still branded with the same basic color scheme and feel, but it was addressing potential communities in the area which might be ripe with prospects for wanting to sell and move-up to a community like The Farms. Again, using a very specific and targeted message. Prospects like to feel like you're addressing them personally, and template postcards don't do this.

Below are some ideas to make your postcards more specific to your brand:

1. Make sure the fonts and colors are consistent with your other marketing material.
2. Establish a tone for your marketing (playful, serious, conservative, funny, hip, high-end, budget-friendly). Whatever vibe you build your brand on, it should be incorporated in all your marketing.
3. Who are you and why are you better than your competition? Template postcards just slap on a picture and different contact information. Use the space to communicate why you are different.
4. Incorporate the use of testimonials, but only if you can be specific. A testimonial from Tom and Linda Stevenson looks suspicious and made up; however, if you can say Tom and Linda Smith from the Peninsula, or a specific neighborhood, the credibility factor is solid.
5. Use a call to action to for consumers to check Angie's List or visit your website for reviews and testimonials.
6. If you are providing an offer, make it specific. Postcards with $50 off messages fall into the generic category. If you encourage people to save the card for a $50 gift card to 131 Main upon completion of services, it's a subtle way of showing people that you are a part of the local community by that extra layer of detail. In addition, if you offer $50 off, they've forgotten that discount before the ink dries on the check. If you provide them the same discount in the form of a gift card they will have to plan to use, they are thinking of your business and the gift card you gave them until they have the chance to use it. Then, they subtly remember that great dinner out as a gift from you. Major value points and equity for your brand!

Please visit Message in a Mailbox on Facebook for other great tips and ideas to make your marketing stand out and work more efficiently...you can be doing more for less!

Does it? Does it compel me? 4 ways to make your direct mail more compelling

That's a reference to the exorcism scene from the movie, "This is the End," which I probably shouldn't admit to watching. When I decided to write about how to develop a compelling direct mail postcard, those words immediately popped into my mind.

Just like Jay couldn't compel the devil to leave his inhabitant's body, postcards don't automatically compel people to read them. However, I can offer a few tips that are proven to make for more compelling direct mail.

1. Avoid the use of these awful canned postcard templates
When I see the generic postcard templates where businesses just insert their own photo and contact information on a shell, it's a huge turn-off. It tells me that they are lazy and have nothing unique to offer in terms of their brand. If you don't have more than 5 minutes to craft your message to me, I'm not compelled to read further. I often think this kind of card does more damage than good. I recently received one such template card from a realtor promoting their vast experience serving the Lake Norman area -- only problem was that the graphic image on the front was a lake with mountains in the background. That's not Lake Norman, so you've just completely lost your credibility with me. High resolution stock images are great to use when you don't have an arsenal of quality photography of your products or services, but make sure you are using them in the right way and that they are credible.

2. Understand what you are actually selling
I wrote an earlier blog on the wonderful quote from businessman Peter Nivio Zarlenga, "In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope." Many businesses make this mistake. Instead of focusing on the emotional benefits to the consumer, they focus on the product offerings or services. For example, a landscaper might include a bulleted list of all his services: lawn maintenance, pruning, weed control, fertilizing, landscape design, etc. If we think of this in terms of the lipstick vs. hope approach, the landscaper is really selling the promise of time. By hiring a landscaper, the consumer will have more time to relax and actually enjoy his home's outdoor space -- this is what a landscaper truly sells, not the mowing or fertilizing services. You can still list all the services you provide, just make sure you've included the ultimate benefit to the consumer. It can be as simple as using a picture of a man laying on his hammock actually having time to enjoy the beauty of his back yard.

 3. Motivate readers to turn the card over
The goal with any direct mail postcard is to inspire (compel) people to turn it over to read the backside further. How do you do this? Give them a reason upfront for turning over the card. Use a banner or callout that says things like:

• Read the back for 4 things you need to do now for a green lawn in the spring!
• Turn card over for money saving coupon!
• Save this card with your neighbor's names so you can help welcome them into your neighborhood!
• Read the reverse to find out how to efficiently program your thermostat to save money in the summer!

You get the point. Don't assume that people pick up your postcards and read every word. You have 3 seconds to make an impression and provide them with a compelling call to action, which will motivate them to read the back side. Promises of discounts, money saving tips, urgent calls of action and educational advice are all great motivators.

4. Write a compelling headline
If you've read this far, then such techniques like asking a question or using a number with tips or benefits for something both compelled you to read more! I recently used a headline on one of my own direct mail pieces that said, "Wait, don't call us just yet..." The intent was to say something contradictory to what the reader is likely thinking. My goal was for them to wonder why I don't want them calling my business just yet. The goal of the postcard was to position my company, Message in a Mailbox, as a resource. I want businesses to engage with me on Facebook and learn more about direct mail. My ultimate goal is to help businesses -- I'm not concerned that they call me and I win a sale today. I know that when you actually help people, you'll eventually earn their business for the long term.

If you've read this far, I really hope you'll be compelled to "like us" on Facebook and engage with us there!

Make your customers pay for your direct mail!

I originally titled this article "How to calculate your customer's value against the ROI of your direct mail," and reading that made me want to stick a fork in my eye out of boredom. Businesses sometimes grumble about the cost of direct mail, feeling as if it's stealing away at profit margins. Hopefully, this blog will serve to turn that thinking around a bit and help you understand that your customers are the ones actually paying for your direct mail! If they aren't, then that's a problem that we'll need to talk about....

Owning Message in a Mailbox, a company focused on direct mail -- and more specifically, direct mail flyers and postcards, you'd expect me to pronounce that direct mail is critical for every business.

However, I'm not going to say that, because it would dilute my credibility. I am all about helping small businesses, and I will be the first person to tell a business when their money would be better spent in other areas. However, I will say that most businesses find direct mail both beneficial and essential when it comes to growing their customer base. So, how does one determine if direct mail is right for them?

Businesses need to have a good sense of their own numbers, before looking at any form of advertising. What is the lifetime value of a customer to your business? This is not how much a customer spends on a sale, but rather how much profit that customer brings to you. Not only is it the profit from their transactions over a lifetime, but it also includes the value you receive from them in terms of referral business and the increasingly important social engagement (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) If you are a realtor, you are looking at a commission of between $8,000-15,000 for an average Lake Norman home, and upwards of $30,000 on one sale if you're selling some of the exclusive lakefront properties. If you gain the trust of your clients and handle more than one real estate transaction for them during their lifetime, that customer could have quite a large value to you.

Let's say as a realtor, you want to send out 10,000 postcards per month all year long. That would be 120,000 pieces of direct mail in a year. For simplicity sake, we'll stick with flyer box delivery and calculate the total cost of your direct mail piece at .20 per household. This would come to $24,000 per year spent on direct mail (printing and delivery). Direct mail averages around a 2.5% response rate. Now, I'm not going to calculate the response rate based on the total number of pieces mailed. I'm going to assume you are repeating your mailing to the same 10,000 people each month (repetition is the key), and use the reach (number of households) and not the number of pieces mailed (each of the 10,000 homes will receive 12 postcards/year). If the target group that you're mailing to is 10,000, and we conservatively factor a 2% response rate, this would be 200 responses over the course of the year from this campaign. The conversion rate of a response to an actual sale is estimated at half the response rate. Now we have 100 sales that came from your mailing to the same group of 10,000 people each month over a given year. If your average commission is even $10,000, then you've spent just $24,000 and received over $1 million in new commissions. Keep in mind, that realtors need to subtract overhead and other expenses so that $1 million would not be pure profit, but they've more than covered the cost of that direct mail campaign several times over. This is why realtors dominate when it comes to direct mail -- they know it pays off big for them.

Let's walk through another example and take an owner of a heating and air company. They might have two groups of customers -- those who have only used them for routine or minor repairs, and those that have actually used them to replace a major unit in their home. Their goal is to maintain customers over a long span of time, so that the majority will require a large purchase at some point in time. Conservatively speaking, let's say their average customer has a value of just $1,000 to their business over a lifespan. This would be someone who uses them for maintenance and repairs for a span of 5-10 years or a customer who just had his AC and furnace replaced. Clearly, calculating the "value" of the average customer is a little trickier in this line of business. For this example, their target reach might be less. We'll look at mailing just 3,000 postcards a month for 12 months. This equates to 36,000 pieces of direct mail at a cost of less than $7,200 for the year. Using the 2% response rate on the 3,000 homes they've targeted each month, they will get new sales from half of the 60 that responded over the course of a year. If their average customer is worth $1,000 (in profit) to their business over a lifetime, they've spent $7,200 but received over $30,000 in profit.

You can see why direct mail continues to lead among preferred advertising channels for many types of businesses. The more "value" a customer brings to your business over a lifetime, the better rate of return you will see. Above I mentioned that direct mail is not for every type of business. It's hugely successful for businesses like realtors who can realize a $10,000 commission off of just one sale. It's also successful for businesses who have repeat and steady business from their customers over the course of a lifetime (financial planers, doctors, dentists, cleaning services, landscapers, hair salons, etc.) What kinds of businesses aren't served well with direct mail? Those where the sale is neither a one time big revenue generator (realtor, builder, home remodeler) or a steady stream of repeat business over a lifetime. Let's say I wrote a book and wanted people to buy it. I target 5,000 people each month and send out 60,000 pieces of direct mail at a cost of  $12,000 for the year. Out of those 5,000 people, 2% respond and 1% actually purchase my book. I've sold 50 books. I'd be lucky to receive a $5 profit on that book, so I've now paid $12,000 for $250 profit. Oops...not a great return on investment at all! For any businesses that might be selling a single product or a service that's under $500 and would only be purchased once in that customer's lifetime, I would not recommend direct mail marketing.

I hope these examples help as you analyze what kind of rate of return you can expect through direct mail. Stay tuned, as we'll soon be discussing "how much" and "how far" your direct mail efforts should be for your business goals.

Are you selling lipstick when you should be selling hope?

In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope." Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Once you understand this fundamental concept in marketing, it will help you to better position your product. So many times businesses focus too much on what they are selling, and not the benefit to the consumer. A lipstick manufacturer's marketing department might fall into the trap of wanting to promote other benefits of their particular brand -- how many colors they make, the innovative tube or packaging, the longevity of the lipstick stain, the glossy finish, or the moisturizing nutrients added to the product. While each of these are benefits, to focus on any of those without realizing that you're selling the promise of hope to women would be a miss.

How can this message translate into your own marketing? If you're a realtor, are you focused on the square footage, the lot size, or the fact that the home boasts a huge island and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, instead of what that means for a potential buyer's future lifestyle?

If you're a landscaper, are you more focused on the laundry list of services you provide (mowing, trimming, pruning, fertilizing, etc., rather than the emotional appeal your services provide to your customers in terms of having more time to relax and enjoy their outdoor spaces?

Think about the power emotion plays in your next advertisement or direct mail piece. Product benefits and statistics to back up your product add value, but they should be the supporting elements of a campaign and not the feature.

"iPod. 1,000 songs in your pocket." How we can write better headlines from this example

On October 23, 2001, Apple Computer launched a new product. At the Apple Music Event in Cupertino, CA, Steve Jobs uttered this simple phrase: "iPod. 1,000 songs in your pocket." This phrase was so concise and so meaningful, that Jobs could have just stopped his address there and called for questions.

In the fall of 2001, I was still carrying around my clunky Discman. For the 20-year-olds reading this, the Discman was considered cutting-edge. It allowed you to carry around a single cd and play music. If you wanted to switch to another cd, you'd have to carry those in a separate pouch. Yes, lame. If you've ever seen those horrible "NOW That's What I Call Music" compilation cds and wondered who on earth would buy these, I did. If you didn't want to listen to a single cd with one artist, it was the only way to get a mix of songs on the Discman. Getting Ricky Martin's Livin la Vida Loca on a cd, along with a handful of somewhat decent songs, was just the price one paid in 2001. Until the iPod.

When Steve Jobs went to announce the iPod, he didn't focus on the product itself. He didn't focus on the technology advancements that made it possible to store so many songs. He didn't even focus on how much smaller his product was over other portable music devices on the market. He focused on the consumer. A single benefit: "1,000 songs in your pocket."

Most of you are probably thinking that nailing down a headline like that for the iPod was easy. It was an extraordinary product that would sell itself. Most pr and marketing practitioners aren't that lucky. We're not only tasked to pitch the ordinary; we're tasked to make it sound extraordinary.

I've written about the "so what factor" in public relations before. We need to ask ourselves this question on a daily (if not hourly basis). I spent a number of years working in high-tech environments writing news announcements for advances to things like mainframes and semiconductors. In both of these industries, the "so what" often took awhile to ferret out from my product groups. Sometimes, admittedly, I never found it.

Often, a pr or marketing practitioner's first line of contact when writing a headline is with the product engineers. While engineers are immediately impressed by things like faster processing speeds or larger storage capacities, those don't make good headlines. A good headline is simple. A good headline addresses an immediate, tangible benefit to its reader.

The best headlines are going to offer an immediate benefit.

In writing headlines, the two questions you need to ask include:

1) Who will benefit from this product?
2) What is the tangible benefit to those people?

If you can, push aside all the facts, figures and fancy charts from your product groups and engineers and just find that raw benefit. Sometimes the headline will write itself:

iPod. 1,000 songs in your pocket.