Direct mail or email. Yellow Pages or banner advertising. Radio or newspaper. Sprinkle in the pressure to get into social media and it’s enough to make your head spin.
When divvying up your marketing dollars, how can you be sure you’ll end up with the right mix of strategies and tactics to sell, inspire or recruit?
Marketing involves some trial and error. The trick is to minimize the error by relying on the tried-and-true channels that are proven to generate the action you need.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that small businesses are now returning to direct mail marketing after experimenting with electronic strategies, like email, to trim costs last year.
What did these marketers learn? They discovered that their customers and prospects still respond to “snail mail” communications – when it’s done right.
MIX IT UP
So what’s “right”? For direct mail, personalization and relevant messaging have proven to lift response rates. As with any advertising medium, saying the right things to the right people at the right time is the killer combo.
Using a combination of communications strategies – print, electronic and in-person – will improve your odds of driving your key audiences to act. Remember: all customers are not created equal. Time and dollars should be more heavily skewed to those who generate the most income.
A complete analysis of your market opportunities, current customer profiles and marketing communications budget will all help to determine the right mix to help you reach your organizational goals.
