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How to Get Customer and Prospect Feedback…

and how to use it as a marketing advantage!

For many, feedback is detrimental – a negative, unplanned disturbance. It’s that dreadful, high-pitched squeal from the public-address system that sometimes occurs when the speaker at the podium first opens his or her mouth to say, “Good morning.”

In business, there’s another form of feedback. This is the response you obtain from customers and prospects. It’s what tells you how well your company is doing.

  1. Naturally, the very best feedback you can get is a sale – cash in your bank account.
  2. The second-best feedback is to have a customer or prospect – really talk to you and tell you what they think, good and bad.
  3. In the world of the most preeminent companies, those that invite feedback – and use it to improve – continue to outperform those who don’t.

Not only do these better companies seek honest evaluations about their performances, what was learned is shared with sales, marketing, customer service, and the product development department.

Unfortunately, there are so many questionnaires and surveys floating around that responses can be slim. So, get creative, get bold. Or, get on the phone and talk to people one at a time – and listen, listen, listen!

Canned questions are fine but use them as thought starters. Let customers talk to you and tell you, in their own words, what they see, hear and feel.

Look at what other companies are doing.

To become a useful tool, data must be transformed into information that can help drive strategic direct marketing programs and financial decisions. To minimize manual data collection and conserve resources, a company should focus on metrics from readily available data.

In today’s direct and digital marketing, data can be relied upon to capture information needed to drive decisions. The idea of having a good marketing automation tool to capture more data at a reasonable price is a worthwhile investment.

When you summarize feedback in the form of charts, graphs, or simple to understand language, you’ll always know the score. You’ll know if you’re winning or losing – and to what degree.

 

© 2007-2018 by the Marketing Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to digital copying and printing without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher. Photographs are purchased from such companies as: I-Stock, Windows Clip Art, HubSpot, PhotoPin, Deposit Photos, Solid Stock, Unsplash, Stencil or John Deuerling. All original content on each article is fingerprinted and certified by Digiprove.

How an envelope creates a first impression for your promotion…

the same way clothes create a first impression for you.

Everyone likes a bit of respect now and then. If you are leaning toward your first direct mail program in quite some time or are a regular user of direct mail, or want to try direct mail, envelopes are a great option. For some unknown, envelopes get no respect.

From a practical point of view, an envelope is simply a container. It holds your letter, invitation, and other printed matter so they can be delivered to the recipient. Upon arrival, it is torn open and discarded. So, what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that an envelope is far more than a container. It creates a first impression and carries the burden of making sure the contents are read. If the envelope fails to create the right impression, the envelope is not opened and with its contents, discarded. The entire direct mail package, including your carefully crafted sales literature, is thrown into the trash.

Give your envelopes the respect they deserve!

The envelope must conform to expectations, fit the occasion, and give people a reason to spend at least a few minutes with you so you can say what you should say.

There are five basic types of mail:

  • Advertising
  • Publications
  • Bills
  • Personal or official communications

The default appearance is advertising, but the others can be useful. For example, if your company specializes in smart phones and you’ve just introduced an Internet service to avoid dropped calls, your prospects may assume any ad mailer from you is about phone services.

Make your mailer look like a publication or an official communication. Fitting the occasion is about making the envelope match the theme of your mailing. Is it an invitation, a notice, a personal letter, or something else?

Getting back to smart phones, a company has new accessories offered for sale. They decide to print on the envelope, a “free introductory offer” and look like an official notice. Your envelope should work with, not against, your theme. Copy as simple as “Look inside” or “Open immediately” can also do the job.

  • We’ve seen a clear plastic envelope that allows people to see the contents.
  • Enclosing a bulky item makes people wonder what’s inside.
  • A valuable-looking certificate or gift card showing through a window makes the envelope impossible to ignore.

The envelope is arguably the single most important part of your direct mail package. Give it the respect it deserves and spend plenty of time creating and designing the “package.” There are many new and different envelopes and designs made to entertain the reader. An entertained reader may very well be your next new customer.

 

© 2007-2018 by the Marketing Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to digital copying and printing without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher. Photographs are purchased from such companies as: I-Stock, Windows Clip Art, HubSpot, PhotoPin, Deposit Photos, Solid Stock, Unsplash, Stencil or John Deuerling. All original content on each article is fingerprinted and certified by Digiprove.

How to Use Story Telling Within a Brochure…

and other channels to enhance the impact of your message.

 

Brochures used to be the workhorse of marketing and selling. They were handed to prospects, distributed at trade show, offered on a website, inserted into product fulfillment packaging, and so on.

Today, you’ll need great copy writing, design, photos, landing pages and a variety of channels to make a good connection.

If you plan on sending brochures in your direct mail, it’s important to make sure they are created to work in that environment. The story within the brochure does all the heavy lifting and the copy must be short and to the point, quickly.

Next, make sure you carefully put together:

  • a list of names,
  • the creative design is attractive to your readers,
  • leads them to your special offer,
  • all within eight seconds after picking up the brochure and
  • leads them in one click to the company’s landing page.

Here are 8 tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your direct marketing mail brochures and its supporting cast of channels.

  1. When you decide on using direct marketing and mail, make your brochure “tells before sells.” Remember that in direct mail, it’s the letter that makes an offer and does the selling. The job of your brochure is to back up your letter and fill in the details of your story. The old saying is, “the letter sells, and the brochure tells.” You do this by illustrating the use of your product, by listing features and benefits, and by including photos, illustrations, diagrams, charts, tables, and other visual aids that “wow.”
  2. Design for easy reading. While you may want to impress your potential buyers, never let ego get in the way of legibility. Use easy-to-read type, short paragraphs, bullet points, photo captions, bold headlines and subheads, and drawings using the design techniques of the brochure.
  3. Use descriptive headlines. A header for a section with testimonials that read, “Why our customers love us” says nothing. But a header that reads, “We’ve saved money for more than 300 customers” delivers a clear message. Since people tend to scan literature, it’s important for all your “headers” to be complete and descriptive at a glance. The story may be the “how to” a portion of customers saved money. Pick a problem in your industry which is familiar to many, but your solution is your company’s grabber.
  4. Don’t waste your cover. You should start strong on the cover with a big benefit headline. This draws attraction to the eye and provides the reader with a reason to open your brochure and start reading. Use a design or two from your website landing page to increase familiarity.
  5. List features and benefits. Features are the characteristics of the product or service you’re selling. Benefits are the explanation of how those features are relevant; they answer the question “What does this mean to me?” Generally, benefits relate to how something will save time, generate money, or solve problems.
  6. Highlight your guarantee. This can reduce perceived risk and remove objections. Potential customers are always thinking, “What if this doesn’t work? What if I don’t like it?” Use a story to depict the most important value-added option within the guarantee. If a video is possible, here’s the spot to place it.
  7. Include testimonials. Positive remarks from satisfied customers or clients help support your claims and act as proof that your products or services are of high quality.
  8. Add complete contact information. Brochures are often the one-piece people keep or pass on to others. So, add a landing page on your website supporting the brochure. Use similar designs from the brochure and redundant copy. If your company is using social media or wants to test the waters, this is a great time to add another channel or two.

Digital marketing offers a great opportunity for a visitor to finish the brochure story. A quick video, depicting your product in use. Accolades from other companies. The list can be endless but keep away from boredom or too much of a good thing.

 

 

© 2007-2018 by the Marketing Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to digital copying and printing without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher. Photographs are purchased from such companies as: I-Stock, Windows Clip Art, HubSpot, PhotoPin, Deposit Photos, Solid Stock, Unsplash, Stencil or John Deuerling. All original content on each article is fingerprinted and certified by Digiprove.

Visuals attract and make the reader pause…

now pounce on them with an offer they can’t refuse.

Direct and digital marketing strategies is a combination of words and pictures and ideas. A great idea without compelling words often goes unnoticed. Great words without the ability to attract the consumer’s attention often doom those glorious words to oblivion. Great visual images without substantive words and ideas often diminish the outcome. For example:

  • Give me a ring regarding our new pricing for prospects. Not!
  • Would you like me to add your email to our customer care weekly email? Never!
  • Visuals attract and make the reader pause long enough to see if it’s worth their time. Great!
  • The weekly business after hours is a great place to meet and network with people looking to sell and buy. Could be.

At times, your reader may not understand the connection with a visual. Create another pause visual, such as color or all capitalized type to slow or stop the reader to check it out. Make sure your post or article opens in another page so the trip back for the visitor returns to the original page. Also, this is a good way to aid in the definition of a word or phrase, such as:

“Now, why didn’t I think of that?” Or, “the competitor’s new product will kill us.”

Do you know who your audience is, direct or indirectly?

Each is important but coming up with “grabbers” work well in any communication channel today.

For example, in direct mail, a good grabber is the design. The design is the attraction. Make sure it’s the proper blend of color, shape, size, illustrations, photographs, and typography.

A good headline accentuated with a photo or a sign is called “a double whammy.” Bright colors and bold graphics will set your work apart and create the STOP you were looking for. Illustrations are easily editable to fit your brand, and at times, even be more universal than photography. Let the “vector images” help your next project pack a powerful punch.

The “how-to” or “why” or a “number series” is a great idea for adding value. Use a bit of entertainment in the form of a photograph, vector image, or even a short video or GIF, is a positive stopper.

What you learn in Direct Mail 101, is that the how-to is a very powerful word combo as it engages the prospect on a deeper psychological level. It’s self-centered and most of us pay more attention when we hear “how-to and whatever follows after it.”

Using a catchy relevant headline in the email subject for you’re an increase in the open rate.  Here are a few examples to give you some ideas to try in your next ad campaign

Headline example: “How to Reach a Qualified Target Audience… and motivate them to seek you out!”

Photo examples. The word momentum by definition, is not only a powerful force, it can keep your readers brain in motion with various ideas. Eventually, when focused on a segment of your contacts, such as prospects for example, will teach you a few ways on how to qualify them and may keep them coming back.

Is the copywriting and the photo strong enough to draw the reader in to your copy? Tie the copywriting to an appeal of a human emotion.

Ask a question in the headline: What marketing communication channel delivers over 700 million messages each day?

Curiosity will draw many reasons to find an answer.  A good copywriter will add more subtle information. Such as, in a subhead. Hint. Something you do outside the box?

The answer is 700 million of letters and parcels are delivered daily by the United States Postal Service. When you decide to use the US Mail channel, it’s a pretty good guess the contact will get what you sent, in his or her hand, and open it.

Thinking of using direct mail?

If you want to learn more about, design, compelling copy and direct mail, please call us. Direct mail always gets your message delivered. Give us a call and to discuss your ideas and answer any questions.

 

© 2007-2018 by the Marketing Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to digital copying and printing without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher. Photographs are purchased from such companies as:
I-Stock, Windows Clip Art, HubSpot, PhotoPin, Deposit Photos, Solid Stock, Unsplash, Stencil or John Deuerling. All original content on each article is fingerprinted and certified by Digiprove

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