Articles
15 Surefire Direct Mail Offers
One of the top direct mail mistakes is not making a specific offer (or request) and expecting the recipient to figure out what you want them to do.
The job of your offer is to motivate the respondent to take action. Without a compelling reason to respond, your target is most likely going to do nothing. A great offer has high perceived value to the prospect. This does not necessarily mean it costs you much to give, but that your target thinks it’s valuable. Of course, any offer should also be simple, easy to explain and quickly understood.
Here are 15 surefire offers:
1. FREE information – This is the most common offer when trying to get sales leads in the business-to-business world. Free information can be in the form of a helpful guide, white paper or case study.
2. FREE demonstration – This is important for complex products like business equipment.
3. FREE trial – This is a common offer for higher-priced merchandise and many services, both for businesses and consumers.
4. FREE cost estimate – A good offer for many professional services such as contractors.
5. FREE sample – Depending on the product, the offer of a free sample can be compelling, particularly when it is coupled with something else, such as free information.
6. FREE survey of your needs – Also called an “audit offer,” this is often used with success by service companies.
7. FREE gift – This can be an effective offer to drive traffic to retailers or consumer service businesses.
8. Rebate after purchase – This offer is common, usually for consumer products.
9. Seasonal sale – This offer is limited to a special event or time period, usually a season or holiday (White Sale, Fourth of July, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.).
10. Customer appreciation sale – These are special deals for past and current customers only.
11. Two-for-one – This offer communicates “value.”
12. Time limit – Setting a time limit on any offer is good practice because it forces action now.
13. Introductory pricing – This offer promotes a discounted price for acting fast.
14. Volume discounts – This offer makes it a good deal for people to buy more than they had planned. “Save 50 percent when you buy all five!”
15. Trade-in – An example of a trade-in offer would be: “We’ll give you $50 off your computer monitor when you trade in your old one.”
New Best Practices In Email Marketing
Email strategies, as with any form of direct marketing, evolve over time. Here are some of the newest “best practices” to consider when creating email campaigns.
Three ways to ensure a more successful email campaign.
Ask yourself:
- Does your reader recognize you? Eighty percent of people will decide to read your email by what you have put in the “from” name and subject line.
- Are you saying something relevant? The better you understand your customers, the greater the chance you’ll deliver a message that motivates them.
- Is the email content “share ready?” Be sure to include a forward-to-a-friend button. If applicable, also link it to your entries on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Email lists: Make them better, but not necessarily bigger.
It’s much better to build a smaller list that brings you opens, clicks, forwards and shares than a huge list with little engagement. Engagement is the best way to measure success and build online reputation. The more engaged your readership, the higher the performance of your effort.
Just remember that you are building an opt-in list, which means a person must give their permission before being added. Be able to be found … be everywhere!
- Ask for an email address when interacting with clients.
- If clients frequently come into your business, print out a colour copy of your newsletter and frame it in your lobby. Show customers exactly what they are signing up to receive.
- Collect emails at events and meetings.
- Have a Join our Email List button in your email signature and on your web site.
More bang for your bucks: Re-purposing email campaigns.
The easiest way to re-purpose your email content is to archive it. Take past editions of your e-newsletters and post them on your website. As a bonus, this regular addition of new, relevant content will help drive up your site’s SEO ranking.
Recognize and Retain Your STAR EMPLOYEES
Keeping your good customers satisfied surely has been the primary focus this year – and rightfully so. Have you done the same with your top employees? Everyone is impacted by economic cutbacks, including those whom you’ll count on for the turnaround.
Your ‘A’ Team
Most organizations were forced to take a hard look at their employee compensation and benefits packages this past year. And, scaling back on employee recognition programs does make economic sense when budgets are stretched thin.
However, it’s not an “all or nothing” proposition. Small indulgences can register big satisfaction when you want employees to be actively engaged in the long-term health of your organization. Non-monetary incentives work!
Research shows companies with high employee morale are:
• 56% more likely to have higher-than-average customer loyalty
• 50% more likely to have lower turnover
• 38% more likely to have above-average productivity
• 27% more likely to report higher profitability
What can you do to boost morale and retain invested, valuable employees?
• Employee newsletter – Don’t rely on the grapevine to deliver organizational updates. A company newsletter gives you a regular and “official” medium to distribute vital company information.
• Employee handbook – A professional environment inspires professional attitudes. Do the same issues surface repeatedly? Best to lay out company policy in an employee handbook.
• Business cards/logo apparel – At minimum, all employees should have business cards. Those who interact with customers and the public may best represent your business in logo apparel and feel more like part of the team.
Turn Your Website Browsers Into Paying Customers
By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*
Many marketing experts struggle with the concept of on-site conversion. After executing on a well developed marketing plan, and generating traffic to a landing page or website, the next step is to turn your prospects into customers. Improving your online conversion rate can be accomplished in a number of ways.
Generate targeted traffic.
An important strategy for enhancing on site conversions begins even before you make changes to your website or webpage. Attracting the right people to your website is paramount for increasing conversions at a lower cost. Begin by evaluating your lead sources and determine the alignment of your prospects with your product.
One way to accumulate this information is with a survey that pops-up or pops-under as browsers leave your site. Often times, reducing or retargeting spend to the segments that perform the best can have a very positive impact on ROI.
You can also determine what traffic is best aligned with your market by carefully analyzing your Google Adwords campaigns. With the proper conversion tracking in place, it’s easy to determine which keywords are generating sales, versus clicks alone. Focus on expanding your top converting keywords and driving truly interested prospects to your landing page.
Improving landing page performance.
Once you’ve begun to attract the right prospects, you need to focus on converting them. The fastest way to improve conversion is through testing various landing pages. If you have the technology to rotate landing pages, testing multiple pages within a fixed amount of time, then you can learn quickly what page has the highest conversion rate. If you are limited to testing one page at a time, run each landing page for a week and measure the results. Your data won’t be as accurate but can certainly send you down the right path.
Another method for improving on-site conversions is with the help of an automated touch program. With this technique, you can use an auto-responder that gives individuals an opportunity to reconnect with your business. One example would be an abandoned shopping cart campaign. If users begin the purchase process (and have given you their email) but fail to complete the process, an auto-responder can be used to send and email message within minutes or hours, inviting them back to complete the purchase. You can use email best practices to enhance conversion, and touch individuals numerous times to move them through the purchase decision process.
In addition to targeting those who have started a purchase, you can also use an auto-responder for those who sign up for valuable information from your website. Perhaps they sign up for your newsletter, free lessons, or whitepaper. Once an individual has registered, the auto responder goes to work, sending appropriate emails at set intervals. The result is communication with a prospect that was previously unavailable to you. Work on improving conversion of your automated touch program by testing creative and timing of messages.
Using the techniques of better targeting, improving landing page conversion rates, and auto-responders can significantly enhance the performance of your online marketing campaigns. Plan your programs carefully and measure performance along the way, making appropriate enhancements. Over time, your results become automatic!
*Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com, the Internet’s biggest source of marketing information and free marketing resources. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Improve Search Engine Rankings with Michael’s latest ebook, The Webmaster’s Book of Secrets.
7 Ways to Improve The Stickiness Of Your Website
By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*
Today, consumers are overwhelmed with choices, and distractions. The cost of attracting users to your website continues to increase and keeping them engaged is more important than ever.
Engagement doesn’t end with an individual browser reading content or clicking on an ad. Rather, engagement is an ongoing process that results in loyal customers who come back again and again, becoming more vested in your web site.
How can you make sure you’re engaging and keeping customers?
In order to create a loyal following, there are some basic principles you need to consider. From first impressions to life-long membership, put yourself in the shoes of your browsers and make their experience a valuable one.
- Reduce Clutter. How many times have you visited a website only to be overwhelmed and confused? What is this site about you may have asked yourself. Or perhaps you found yourself asking, “Where is the information I’m looking for?” Don’t ask your browsers or potential customers to figure this out. Make your site clutter free and create a visual priority that emphasizes the information, resources, or actions your browsers want. By reducing obstacles you build trust among new web site visitors and allow for simple decision making – which benefits everyone.
- Make Navigation Intuitive. There are many ways to navigate a web page but intuition rules the day. Don’t try to get fancy with your navigation or overuse java script. Basic navigation that follows current convention is the best way to lead individuals through your web site to the information they’re looking for.
- Make The Initial Site Interaction Relevant. When a browser reaches your web site, you have less than seven seconds to get them engaged. Making your initial site interaction relevant to what individuals are looking for is essential for keeping them interacting long term.If you are promoting your web site with Google Adwords, or any pay per click advertising for that matter, be sure to create customer landing pages that are truly relevant to the individual who clicks-through your ad. Once you’ve established relevancy, you can move them deeper into your content, tools, and resources.
- Ensure That Your Content Is Up-to-date. Web site content that isn’t up to date does not serve your audience and browsers are likely to move on. One way to ensure that information is timely is by providing a feed of relevant news or information. If including static text on your web pages, try not to include specific dates. However, if you must publish dates, be sure to update this information on a regular basis.
- Start An Interaction With Your Users. Each time a browser views your web page, you have an opportunity to interact with them. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. One great way to interact is to offer something of value at no cost. This can be a white paper, access to an exclusive list, or simply a 30 day free trial. Be sure to capture an individual’s valid email address and include them on your mailing list. An auto-responder is best if you wish to engage these individuals on an ongoing basis.
- Provide Plenty Of Support. Don’t hesitate to offer support right from your home page. Prominently display your 800 number, support email address, and additional information for your prospects and customers such as mailing address. This information is viewed favorably by search engines and also creates a sense of legitimacy. Contact information builds trust among prospects and elicits interest in your company.
- Make Sharing Easy. Once you’ve made your web site easy to use, don’t hesitate to offer browsers the ability to share your web site with others. This can be in the form of a simple widget that allows users to bookmark your page, subscribe to an Rss feed, or submit your content to popular news sites like Digg.com.Individuals are much more likely to visit a web site based on a friend’s recommendation versus some other type of marketing initiative. Leverage the power of viral marketing with easy sharing tools.
Your web site can be your greatest asset. Unfortunately, many marketers and website owners are so focused on increasing traffic that they lose site of the audience that’s already visiting their web pages but are simply not converting.
Don’t make the same mistake. Improve the quality of you site through relevant content that is up-to-date and easy to find. Once you’ve engaged users, encourage them to share. Doing so will make your site perform better, increase conversions, and deliver value for all involved.
Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert and the President of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit MarketingScoop.com for further details and more marketing articles including tips on how to improve search engine rankings for your web site.
