Marketing Maestro

Last week before going to the DMA conference I mentioned I would share some interesting and creative uses of direct mail.  This is a picture of a piece I received (not sure how well you can see it) promoting one of the exhibitors. It would have been perfect for blog action day since it is the ultimate green mailing.  A fully recyclable card with plant seeds embedded in the paper.  What will they think of next?

This is really a case where direct mail will 'grow' your business.  I have no idea how well the mailing performed but it stuck out in the pile of promotions I received before the event.  The paper was  unique and the seeds really caught my attention.   With direct mail the details can make or break your effort.

Stay tuned for my favorite mailing of the DMA and a roundup of some more dos and don'ts.

I know there are a few direct mail gurus reading the blog so share your dos and don'ts now and see if they make my list.

Gotta go and water my postcard...

Josef Katz

Today is Blog Action Day.  A couple of weeks ago I committed to participate in writing a blog about the environment.  I decided to have some fun with the idea and posted a few additional related posts on the topic.  I am in Chicago today to speak at the DMA's annual conference about relationship marketing but didn't want to let the day pass without posting something for the big day.  Here are the last few posts related to the environment that I prepared for Blog Action Day.

Marketing Tip for a Cause

It is easy to be green

Going Green Brings in the Green

5 Tips for Better Direct Mail

I have a great direct mail sample of the ultimate green mailing that I will share in a future post.  A postcard you can plant and that will grow flowers.  Would you believe there were seeds embedded in the paper.  Stay tuned for more creative and strategic uses of direct marketing.

Here are a few tips to improve your direct mail and make it greener in the process.

Direct Mail has been beaten up over the years by the press for being junk (a term I really hate) for  creating large amounts of waste and in general is considered less glamorous then say TV advertising.    Direct Mail is one of the most cost effective and efficient ways to reach your customers and has been proven to work more often then most other media.  Almost every business and organization I know of uses it whether they admit to it or not.   You would probably be surprised at what a creative person can do with the mail (watch the blog for some posts about interesting and innovative direct mail).

Here are a few tips for making sure your direct mail effort is on target and environmentally friendly:

1. Use recycled paper for your printing.  There is really no excuse not to anymore. The difference in paper quality is almost indistinguishable.
2. Make sure you clean your mailing list with tools such as NCOA and other postal processing procedures.  These process will save you money and improve your response. 
3. If you get a request to remove someone from your mailing, do it.
4. Remove any return mail from your database so that you don't mail the names again.  There are a number of data entry services available for this task and many will even pick up the mail and send you a file of bad names.
5. Utilize the DMA's Mail Preference Service to remove names from your database or outside lists that don't want to receive mail.  If they don't want it they probably are not going to respond.

Every name you remove or update means you have saved postage, paper and resources mailing a prospect.

Did you know that for every penny increase in the price of gas it costs the USPS $1 Million a day (or something like that).  Just think about how many cars, planes, trucks etc the USPS uses to get your mail across the country or the world.  A piece of bad mail does the trip twice!  Keeping your database clean  will improve your results and help the environment.

Not sure if Direct Marketing is right for your business, drop me a note and I will be happy to discuss it with you.

One week to go until Blog Action Day...

I read this case study in Marketing Sherpa that is worth sharing even if you are not thinking about the environment.  They highlighted a catalog company which understood that many of their customers were concerned with the environment and moving away from paper based catalogs.  To help boost response and maintain their customer base they put together a marketing strategy that addressed their users concerns and increased the company's bottom line.  You can see from this case study that going green can produce  "green" results.

The key take away / reminders for me are:

• You always need to think about your customers.
• Why do they buy from you? 
• What need do you serve in their lives?
• Are you communicating with them how they want to communicate with you?
• What can I change that might make my marketing work better?
• Are you testing new ideas?

If you don't read Marketing Sherpa regularly you should think about signing up.  They produce some great case studies you might be able to apply to your business.  Who knows you might be the next Marketing Sherpa or better yet a Marketing Maestro...

Tell me what you think about the Marketing Sherpa case study.