Connectivity
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When it comes to direct mail, everything from your own competition to recipients’ busy schedules can work against you. We’ve gathered great advice on increasing the response to your direct mailer.
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Know the specific objectives of your mailing. What measurable results are you seeking?
When scanning a direct mail letter, almost everyone will read a headline placed above the salutation, the first paragraph, the signature, the P.S., and any underlined, bold-faced or otherwise highlighted text. But don’t overdo it, or type effects lose their punch. Photographs make a greater impact on recipients than drawings or art and increase their recall of your message. Make sure your main message is on the cover of your brochure or on the outside of your envelope. The majority of recipients never make it past these points and will miss your main message if it’s buried inside. Always put captions under photos. Captions have significantly higher readership than body copy. Keep body text no smaller than 10 or 11 point, depending on your typeface and your audience’s vision and reading ability—it will increase readership. Testimonials are invaluable. They make your offering more believable to new prospects. Solicit testimonials through your direct mail, if possible, for future mailings. Make the benefits to the recipient very clear. Aside from the benefits of your product or service, perhaps you can offer a money-back guarantee, a toll-free support line, a price break, a free sample or trial, favorable payment terms or a perk for acting now. Every element of your direct mailer, from envelope to response card, should restate your offer as well as your contact information. Creating a sense of urgency increases response. Offer a special price or prize for a quick response, or make it clear why it’s important for the recipient to help your cause now. Indicate that only a limited number of offers are available. A reply card will increase your response, as will an 800 response number. The best direct mail pieces are all about the recipient, not about you. This is not the place to talk about your organization’s history or brag about your product. You’re trying to elicit a response, not educate. Experienced direct marketers have a magic cadre of words that increase response. These include: free, you, proven, safe, now, half-price, last chance, limited time only, announcing, easy, discover, guarantee, money, results, power(ful), immediately, exclusive, love, and learn. Give a deadline, but one that allows for delays in mailing. Work with a list broker to procure the perfect address list for your mailing. Contact the Direct Marketing Association at 212/768-7277 for a broker in your area. Lists are generally rented in lots of 1,000 names. For consumer lists, the cost is between $50 and $200. Business lists are usually more expensive. To keep your mailing list clean, run it through the National Change of Address (NCOA) file. Call 800/707-2576 or see www.ncoa-processing.com for more information. You can also contact a non-USPS provider such as clean.list.com (800/454-0223). What is your competition doing? Get on their mailing lists so that you can monitor their offers. Schedule your mailings so they don’t get buried in the deluge of mail created by Christmas, Mother’s Day, and other holidays. The summer vacation season can also be a slow response period. Hand-written notes, stickers, and other “personal touches” encourage action by conveying immediacy. Run side-by-side tests of different variables—two different price points or two different formats, for instance—to random addresses in your mailing list to discover which pulls better. Only test one variable at a time, though, or you won’t know exactly which variable made a difference. Drop the two tests at the same time, or else timing will be introduced as another variable. Before any direct mail piece is sent out, be sure you are ready to handle orders, payments, complaints, whatever. Engage your recipient. Use stickers, scratch-off patches, and other devices that require the reader to complete—and therefore, spend more time with—the mailer. Keep the math simple. Don’t make the recipient figure out special percentages for shipping, for example. |
If you would like to incorporate direct mailers into your marketing package, Connection Group can help you connect with your customers. Please call or e-mail us today to discuss your options and ideas!
All businesses can stand for some improvement. Sometimes we are too close to realize what could work better, or maybe we have a feeling but need the data to support our concerns.
Have you ever surveyed your email list? There are so many things you can learn from surveying your customers and prospects. From learning customer preference of your office hours to the services and products you offer you can learn what you are doing right as a company and where you can improve. With permission based email lists you may even have customers who have requested information on a specific area of your business. A quick survey to them can provide valuable feedback on how their questions were answered and what the results of their inquiry provided to them. Did they choose your product or service or did they choose your competitor and why?
Another popular use of email surveys is rating customer satisfaction after services have been provided. I love these surveys – even if I wasn’t happy with the delivery person or the time it took to complete the request, etc. I am more forgiving when I know the company is interested in my opinion and has taken the time to ask. Okay, so maybe some customers don’t use the feedback to improve – but your company will!
Seriously, when you survey your customers embrace their feedback! Make notes of the answers and view them as an opportunity to make direct changes that will improve customer satisfaction and therefore your bottom line. We recently composed a survey for a non-profit membership organization and we were amazed with the response we received. The results showed the Board of Directors a reinvention of the organizations’ program structure was necessary to keep membership interested and receiving value. The email survey campaign tracked responses and offered a pdf of the results to review. We composed direct questions to the members in this regard which helped us get clear answers to our most important questions. The results helped us target what needed addressed first.
For more information of the value of surveys read this excellent article on good reasons to survey your list.
(http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3620046&utm_source=MailChimp&utm_medium=ResourceCenter)
Author Jeanne Jennings mentions surveymonkey.com as her email survey source of choice in the article. Connection Group has had good success with email surveys with surveymonkey.com also. There are other valid email survey companies out there too, just be sure they are not going to spam your list after you use them to produce a customer survey! If you have any questions or need help composing your questions, please contact us. We are here to help!
This is a quiz to test if you can accurately detect a fraudulent Web site or email. There are many fake login sites and emails with a virus disguised as an important message. This quiz is designed with examples of fake sites and real ones to show you what to look for and keep you from falling victim to scams. Unfortunately, there are new online scams created everyday, prepare yourself as best you can and pick up some of these tricks currently in practice.
Following are a couple of terms and definitions to familiarize yourself with:
Phishing
In computing, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. An example of a phishing e-mail, one that’s disguised as an official e-mail from a fictional bank asking you to join or more often pretending to be from a real bank and asking for your information. The sender is attempting to trick the recipient into revealing their secure information by “confirming” it at the phisher’s Web site. The Web sites themselves are often very elaborate and real looking. PayPal, eBay and online banks are common targets.
Spam
Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems used to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam and junk fax transmissions. Spam messages are often related to a scam and will most likely not be a free trip to Vegas or a million dollar check wired to your bank account from Prince MakeBelieve or whatever other great things are promised.
Quiz is currently down at the moment while we remodel the website – please check back soon!
From simple customer contact information to multi layered applications for reporting each aspect of a business, company databases come in all shapes and sizes. What size fits you? We’ve outlined some questions to get you on the right track….
Do You Know Where Your Database Is?
Depending on their size and specific industry, most businesses have some form of database in place. Many corporate Web sites are built with content management systems (CMS) that pull information from a database to automate updates, track inventory, document purchases, and ease in updates, etc. These databases can range from simple customer contact information to more complex multi layered applications that have been built to provide reports on each and every aspect of your business or organization.
The implementation of a database often begins with one employee using a desktop software such as Microsoft Access to create a database that will ease their work load. Soon others in the organization start using it and adding to it and before you know it a monster is created. The challenge with this approach is the organization is now reliant on a monster that is out of control and never had any planning or forethought.
Why Not Cover Your Bases?
If your needs are simple to begin with and you have a knowledgeable employee on staff a minimal investment in software can get you on the right track. If your needs are more complex and you need to outsource the work – do your research. Prices vary considerably depending on your needs and the type of database you seek.
Thinking through what you want your database to do is critical in the start up stage. Consider your existing needs, future plans and your expected growth and build a system that can answer your needs before you know how to ask. Do be careful not to go too crazy and add fields that you will never use and nobody is even aware of the function. A complex database that never works quite right and nobody understands is just wasteful and expensive. Create a list of “must have” features and then look at what else you can get for your time and money.
Who Holds The Controls?
When working with an outside vendor, explain your needs clearly and ask questions. Will it be a stand alone database used internally only or does it need to be attached to a Web site backend? Can it be hosted on your in-house server or does it need to live on the developers server? Most importantly, who owns it? If the developer owns the rights and you encounter challenges working with them in the future will you lose your information and your investment? What costs are involved in maintaining the database? Are you locked into a monthly hosting fee and maintenance fee? What is included in this charge? If this approach is not comfortable with you, look for a company who will release all rights and build one that allows you to move it where you choose and doesn’t restrict you to their hosting. There may be more costs up front but the peace of mind and long term savings may prove to be valuable. Also be sure to inquire about ease in regular updates. Will your employees have complete access for inputting changes and updates or do you always have to pay for the provider to make changes?
Once the database is in place keep your investment safe and clean by limiting the number of staff trained to make changes and oversee it. Part of the job of a good developer is to provide clear instruction of use and functionality of all elements. Since people come and go frequently it is important to have documentation developed on how the system works so others can be trained quickly and easily.
How Do You Choose?
Many companies are choosing to go with Web base databases instead of software programs. You will need to weight your options. Some commercial software is pretty powerful and when built correctly it can provide strong functionality, scalability, security and flexibility for years with minimum effort and expense. Considerations of using commercial software is what happens when the software program gets updated and you need to migrate your information to the new version? Will everything be compatible and what sort of time and cost are involved from your provider in the update? Databases built using SQL, or customized data mangement systems, may better serve your needs, now and into the future and allow more targeted features.
When Will I Feel Secure?
There are so many industry specific elements needed to create a comprehensive database to serve your organization needs we can not begin to touch on them all here. Check with your professional associations and similar businesses to get valuable advice on where to begin and what to include. Also, please remember to have a back up system in place for your database! If you are hosting it on an internal server, an individual desktop station or if your developer will be hosting your information, make sure all steps have been taken to secure and protect your irreplaceable data!
To increase options and affordability of earth friendly and recycled products we all need to select them when making personal and professional purchases. Connection Group supports the green initiative through the use and availability of paper and products with recycled content. We seek clients and vendors dedicated to supporting the environment with earth friendly practices including reuse of materials, reduced waste and emissions in all company practices.
Connection Group is committed to reusing and recycling all forms of materials. Reducing consumption and minimizing waste in all areas of production and marketing is built into our company climate. In support of alternative energy resources we offer a green hosting package that supports wind powered technology. We are committed to research and delivery of innovative and effective environmental options to serve our clients needs while caring for the earth.
Please contact us with questions and more information on environmentally friendly marketing options. Read further about one of Connection Graphic’s very favorite clients whose earth friendly practices has set new standards in the book printing industry. Authors and publishers look no further, after Connection Group turns your manuscript into a professionally designed book with an eye catching book cover, McNaughton & Gunn will print your next best seller.
McNaughton & Gunn – committed to EarthCare
http://www.bookprinters.com
Green printing is not just a trend at book printer McNaughton & Gunn. Inc. (M&G), Saline, Michigan. Being a good corporate citizen, environmental stewardship has been a conscious effort for M&G even before it came into vogue. M&G was the first Michigan Great Printer, is the recipient of multiple environmental awards and supports multiple earth friendly programs locally and nationally.
Because paper plays such a large role in the making of books, M&G offers a variety of eco-friendly paper options. Recycled papers in both white and natural with a minimum of 30% post consumer waste (PCW) are available for earth conscious authors and publishers.
M&G EarthCare is a company wide commitment to continually strive to improve in the areas of waste reduction and pollution prevention. In 2007, they became certified in the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody program. Chain of custody certification ensures the integrity of specified papers from the forest, to pulp mills, to paper mills, through the distributor to the printer and finally to the printed piece. You can also support green printing by purchasing other wood products such as building supplies and furniture marked with the fsc logo.
M&G EarthCare recognizes environmental protection is everyone’s responsibility and initiatives need to include more than recycled paper choices. A number of steps have been taken to cut down on the waste throughout the manufacturing process. Over the years, M&G has drastically reduced the amount of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) generated during the printing process. Technologies and methods, which substitute non-hazardous materials and utilize other source reduction approaches, are given top priority.
Read more about M&G’s sustainability practices in the following article:
Environmental Sustainability — The Greening of Print
A GUIDELINE ABOUT DIGITAL VS ANALOG RESOLUTION… or…why we can’t grab your photo off your website for use on your printed brochure. . .
IT’S A BIT TECHNICAL, BUT WORTH WRAPPING YOUR HEAD AROUND
The human eye perceives approximately 200 dots per inch. Images you see reproduced in quality print materials are composed of 300 plus dots of ink per inch to simulate a continuos tone to the human eye. If the resolution used to make the image is too low you will see the dots in the image, and detail is lost and blurred.
Professionally printed images; graphics, scanned and digital photos, logos, backgrounds, illustrations, cartoons, icons, etc require at least 300 dpi at 100 percent size. For instance if your final logo will be printed 4″ x 4″ we would need a file 4″ x 4″ at 300 dpi to produce the best quality image. A 2″ x 2″ at 300 dpi will reproduce blurry when increased to the actual 4″ x 4″ size needed in this example.
Television and computer monitors have a maximum screen resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi). When web graphics are created they are best created full size at 72 dpi. If web or television graphics are created at higher resolutions, such as 300 dpi, you will not see the difference on screen. Your monitor is not be able to depict them. What you will see is the images take much longer to load.
If a graphic 4″x 4″ is 72 dpi and you stretch it to be 8″x 8″ the dpi then decreases. In this instant it is half the pixels per inch than what it began with – or 36 dpi in this example. When reproduced digitally or in print this image will be pixelated. It will appear blurry and you may see squares if reproduced digitally and dots if reproduced on a print press instead of a crisp, continuous tone.
HOW TO CHECK YOUR IMAGE’S RESOLUTION
You can check the resolution and size of your original in many photo editing softwares. In Adobe Photoshop go to Image/Image Size and within the dialog box you will see the actual heigth, width and resolution of the image and the amount of pixels in the image. The most important thing to remember is to start as big as you think may be needed. It you start at 300 dpi, you can go down to 72 dpi without loss of quality. If you start at 72 dpi, you can not go up to 300 dpi and expect clear, quality reproduction. In Photoshop (and possibly other editing software) you can “cheat” and plug in a number and “act as if” the photo is 300 dpi instead of the original 72 dpi it was produced in. This doesn’t work. You are not adding those dots per inch, it is then just a number, not an accurate representation of the (dpi) count.
WHERE WILL YOU WANT TO USE THIS ARTWORK or IMAGE?
This is why it is important to consider all of the places you will want to use logos, photos, graphics, layouts, etc. If you think you may use elements of your website, such as icons, backgrounds, etc. or your digital photos, in printed material, it’s important to let us know. Original designs will need to be produced in resolutions of 300 dpi or higher. Or they can be created at less dpi and a much larger height and width dimension and then scaled to actual size without resampling. Depending on the complexity of the design this may cost slightly more upfront because the files are larger and more time consuming to manipulate. However, it will still be less expensive than paying to entirely recreate them in a higher print resolution. Plan ahead and talk to us at the beginning about what media you my want to use your designs and images in.
Can you say FREE?
You may want to think twice about giving anything away for free on your web site. A client who offered a free item on their web site for viewers of their television show learned the hard way! As a local Michigan television show there was a manageable amount of requests for the free item from their viewers after the airing of each episode. Imagine the surprise when hundreds of emails poured in requesting the free item! When thousands upon thousands of requests came in it was an obvious clue something was up. A few inquiries later and the answer was discovered. All of the emails were coming from a web site that did web searches for the word FREE. Upon discovering any free items available on the web, this web site posted the web site name and link and all of their members began jumping onto the client’s site placing orders.
If you are giving away items that are costly and you are offering only to specific visitors there are a few solutions to avoid an onslaught of bogus requests.
1. Make the word FREE a graphic instead of text. Searches will not discover a graphic that is not identified.
2. Create a password protected area that responds only to correct password entries.
If any other solutions develop please let us know! It would be great if you could add to our blog and help everyone.
Free Domain Names? For How Long?
Since so many of the cool domain names have been snagged (and mostly by people who aren’t even using them-ugh!) choosing one can be a daunting task. As difficult as this step is, however, it is just the first decision of many before you launch your website.
Once you find the domain you will use, you need to reserve it. Most start-up businesses are looking for ways to save money and the temptation for choosing a company that offers free domain names with hosting is irresistible. Unfortunately, the cost you pay in the long run could be devastating to your online marketing.
Often when you choose to switch your website hosting to another company you will learn the domain registration was free to you because the hosting company owns it – not you. Some hosting companies will not release ownership and you will have to wait for it to expire and then register it again. This could literally take years. Another option, if the registrar allows, is to transfer the domain to another registrar but this can be costly depending on what your old host is requesting.
Domain names can be registered with many legitimate registrars from $9-25 a year. Pretty nominal compared to a “free” one that you don’t really control. Consider the cost of all the marketing materials you have developed with your domain printed on them. The links from directories and your indexed pages in search engines – not to mention all of your customers who have bookmarked your site – risk being lost.
Connection Group allows you to reserve your own domain name. We even recommend a couple of reputable registrars we work with regularly. If you don’t feel comfortable working through the process we can also reserve them for you. If we do, you hold the reservation and it will be a stand-alone domain name that you can move to a host of your choice at any time.
A couple of reputable domain registrars we work with regularly are:
http://www.godaddy.com
http://www.networksolutions.com
There are probably others out there that are good too. These two we have used since early 2000 without problem.
If you’re interested in learning more about domain names, this blog is an incredibly in-depth resource on the history of domain names.
Let us know if we can help you select or secure domain names as you start thinking about your website design.
This was just too good not to share. Thank you Charmaine for sending it my way!
In response to a video contest this video was submitted by a 20 year old. The contest for young people was titled “u@50”. This video won second place – it will be interesting to see the first place winner. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. It is simple and brilliant. Take a minute and watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA
When so much money is being handed out to criminals and unregulated institutions Art organizations continually function on limited budgets while employing and educating millions of Americans and tourist throughout the country each year. The legislative action surrounding jobs funding for the arts in the Economic Recovery Package in Congress is picking up speed, and we need you to take action! Americans for the Arts has been working with Congressional leaders to build support for this emergency funding for local and state arts organizations to prevent job losses during this recession.
House –As you may recall, last week the House Appropriations Committee approved a plan that included $50 million in supplemental grants funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, and a number of other provisions that can benefit the arts. Starting tonight, and continuing tomorrow, the House will be considering the recovery legislation on the floor, and a number of votes are expected.
Senate –The Senate will be starting their debate on the bill on Friday and continuing through next week. While the Senate Appropriations Committee did not include an arts jobs funding provision in their version of the bill, advocates still have several opportunities over the next few days to change the final outcome. Amendments could be made to the Senate bill or the House arts funding provision itself could prevail in the final House/Senate conference bill. Please take two minutes to take action and ask your Member of Congress and Senators to support the arts in this legislation. Americans for the Arts has supplied you with fresh research and key quotes that support this funding — your help in communicating this information to your Member of Congress is critical. Thank you for your support of the arts!
