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Advertising Advice
Be direct with your mail targeting
The ingredients of a successful direct mail campaign consist of three vital components; the target audience list, an incentive and the creative content and message.
These points are worth considering as an overview of how to prepare for a direct mail campaign.
The following key factors will influence the success of your marketing initiative:-
- It is instrumental to the success of the campaign if you understand who the target audience is and then to select a mailing list that is most appropriate.
- Targeting the right individual is vital. The campaign should be aimed at the decision maker and those that may require a need for your product or service.
- Every piece of direct communication should carry some form of incentive or offer that persuades the audience to carry out an action. For example, this incentive may be a discounted price or free gift. You should ensure that the offer is of value to your target audience. Discounts tend to create the best results.
- The more valuable your offer is the more likely the audience is likely to respond in a positive way.
- However, make sure the offer is not so lucrative that it generates a large response rate but brings you no profit.
Clear Message
Remember to be careful not to give too much away. You want your customers to ultimately buy from you because they believe in your product/service and your brand.
Also, the creative content and message needs to be clear, concise and accurate.
It should explain what your product/service is and what the benefits to the consumers are.
This should include explaining why they need it. The copy should also reflect a tone that is associated with your brand personality and will appeal to your target audience.
It is therefore best to include short sentences and bullet points as you need to draw the readers in quickly and grab their attention.
In regard to the graphics you use, these should also reflect your brand image as well as appealing to the readers. They should relate to the message you are communicating.
Highlighting the offer and important call to action details can increase the response rate. Make it clear what the call to action should be. Do readers need to fill in a form or visit a website or call a number?
It is also recommended to repeat the call to action displaying it in the middle of the copy and at the end.
As consumers are increasingly becoming cynical about direct marketing - it is often viewed as junk mail - it is critical that the outer envelope presents a reason for the recipient to open it.
If the outer envelope does not convey importance or create interest in the receiver it is likely to be thrown away immediately.
Some examples of compelling reasons that encourage your target audience to open the envelope could include an offer or your logo (especially for current consumers).
Also, if the envelope stands out it will create interest in the receiver.
Combinations
Measuring the campaign can often be difficult as it is hard to establish exactly which element drove the positive response.
Perhaps they responded because they liked the offer or the colour of the letterhead caused them to contact you. By creating test cells these can help distinguish the key variables that initiative most responses. For example, try sending out different combinations of copy and offers to four different sections of your mailing list. If you do this, all copy should reflect your brand image.
Another testing method is using promotional codes or coupons to determine how successful the overall campaign was.
When customers make an enquiry you should always ask them where they heard about you and your company.
Precise targeting
In carrying out multiple testing cells you should include a different coupon/promotional code on every one of the different types of direct mail.
When setting the budget, consider the following types of expenses that you will incur.
Mailing lists (this may be free if you utilise your own customer database), paper, printing, postage, the cost of the offer and any marketing agency that assists you in the campaign.
Finally, direct mail can be a key element of your marketing communications mix and can allow for precise targeting, personalisation and testing.
Identifying your customer base is key to advertising.
Advertising is not just a case of providing text to a graphic artist and hoping that what is produced encourages people to pick up the telephone to place an order.
Here we suggest the virtues which will assist you in your drive to make the most of advertising.
Prudence: Don't be taken in by special offers in publications that are not right for your business. The most important marketing decision you make for your company is identifying the correct customer base. Know who they are, what they read, where they shop and competitors they may already use.
Temperance: Be patient with your advertising campaigns. One off adverts will rarely bring you in the response or notoriety you desire unless you are running a fire sale. When booking adverts always look long term.
Justice: Spending time on the content of your advert does have an impact on your response. Just slapping a telephone number on a white background does not make an advert! When designing copy ensure you give the reader a reason to contact you. Once they make that call, it is down to your sales people to turn that inquiry into business. Remember, an advert will only take customers so far.
Fortitude: Hang in there. When you find a publication that works stick with it. Missing issues can have a detrimental effect on your campaign. Even if you think you will be busy when the advert comes out, keep your presence as it is better to have business booked further down the line than nothing for a couple of months.
Faith: Have faith in others and take advice from experts. If you have no experience or knowledge in a field find someone who does or, if you have the time, do some research on the internet or in books. Speak to people who are in the business. There is no excuse to place an advert which is not what you want, especially when there's money involved. Let's face it, regardless of the financial mire we are in, as an SME you should look after every penny.
Hope: Just hoping that things get better is unforgiveable. The only way to keep your business moving forward is to market it. I'm not saying throw money around willy nilly hoping you'll get something right. Plan a marketing campaign that fits your budget, targets your potential customer base and gives them a reason to call you. Also, train yourself and your staff to effectively deal with the potentials and learn to turn them into paying customers.
Charity: Working with charities can boost your business. Supporting a charity with fundraisers, volunteers and donations through payroll giving can give you something positive to promote. Send your stories to your local newspapers, highlight them on your website, send out press releases and encourage your staff to volunteer. It can make them feel their skills are valued and also double as a free team building exercise.
Outsourcing
Is it crucial to retain core competitencies in-house?
For the last few years, outsourcing has started to mature and become a more widely accepted and recognised business practice.
There has been a mix of successes and disasters but, as time passes, businesses learn from their mistakes and move forward with increased knowledge.
When deciding whether or not to outsource a process and which processes are best to outsource, firms need to assess the skills slippage that can result from outsourcing agreements.
When choosing an outsourced supplier it is vital therefore not to outsource the knowledge that gives the Company a competitive advantage.
As a result, the outsourcing of administrative processes are becoming more common as firms look to streamline their work so that they can concentrate staff on more valuable tasks.
An example of this is the surge in the outsourcing of secretariat services for many SMEs. This is an example of Business Process Outsourcing and services like secretariat has helped BPO become the second largest market in the outsourcing world after IT.
According to Research Company, Nelson Hall, the UK BPO offshoring market was approximately $3.6bn in 2007 and is projected to grow to over $8bn by 2011.
So why this growth? What does outsourcing secretariat and other non-core processes do for businesses?
Oakwood Applications are able to provide secretarial services that not only offer competitive pricing but can also add value to the business through greater skills and competencies.
This has proved to be an efficient way of reducing costs whilst maintaining high standards however, like with all outsourcing deals, it has to be done well.
Large organisations can afford to maintain secretariat workforces that focus solely on the secretariat process but SMEs will find that in-house services can eat away at their bottom line.
Outsourcing secretariat therefore fits firmly into many SME business plans and, despite there being initial set-up costs, the overall savings can be appealing. Time consuming tasks such as dictation services, repetitive typing of generic letters and data input can all be outsourced allowing staff to focus their energies on the core of the business.
By eliminating repetitive processes, companies are able to boost morale as employees will be able to focus on more creative work.
Cost savings and efficiency are always at the top of any outsourced agenda. This is no different with outsourcing secretarial processes.
The benefit of no PAYE, National Insurance and sickness costs can be significant and may free capital that can be invested in other crucial areas.
The constant hiring of temporary staff is usually an inefficient tactic used by many SMEs, especially when secretariat work fluctuates in volume.
Websites
Finding the right provider to design your website
A website stands or falls on the quality of its design.
Good design means that the site does what you and your customers want it to, clearly, quickly and easily.
Creating a website can range from using a basic off-the-shelf template to taking space on an existing online store such as eBay or Amazon, to a resource-intensive, bespoke project requiring an experienced technology and design professional.
Before deciding which route to go down, you need to have a clear understanding of what your business is trying to achieve and how your website can help you do this.
Once you have done this, you'll know if you need external help. If you do, the next step is to work out what kind of person you need.
A designer or design agency which advertises web design as well as print work is likely to have design skills but it is worth asking how much web development work they do.
Because of the range of technical and creative skills required of a good web professional, finding an individual or team that incorporates all the characteristics of designer, copywriter and programmer can be a challenge.
Can they add value to your own ideas with some good suggestions of their own? What other things could they do for you like host the site, maintain and update content? Help you get a good ranking with search engines?
Also, ask to see examples of their work. Your business website is your shop window to the world. People will judge your company and brand by what they see and their experience of using it.
It is worth spending some time investigating the options to make sure you get what you need.
We have our own onsite Web Designer - call us now to book a free consultation.
Alex can provide example web sites that he has produced for you to view his work.
Business Development - Music
Get music to work for you
Music can bring a small business to life, even in tough times. From Duffy to Def Leppard, music can help attract customers, encourage them to stay longer and keep them coming back. Plus, music can help improve the motivation and productivity of your staff.
If you use music in your business, you will need a licence. A Music Licence from PRS for Music gives you the legal right to play the songs you want.
Whether it's for radio, any TV programme, CDs, MP3s, music on telephone lines or on training videos, PRS for Music is there for the tens of thousands of small businesses across the UK.
There are over 40 tariffs to ensure that all businesses - from pubs and restaurants to hairdressers, shops and small offices - can access music easily and at a fair charge.
For independent customers (small businesses - four premises or less)
Please Call - 0800 068 48 28
For corporate customers (businesses with five premises or more)
Please Call - 0870 333 13 03
