Internet Direct Marketing Tip of the Day

Most DM’ers will tell you a well targeted branding campaign will give a lift to direct-response results. Web Metrics Guru Jim Sterne sees much of today’s Social Media campaigns as branding and CRM enablers.

So, while you might not be able to easily connect the dots between SocMed and ROI, a well targeted SocMed campaign could help your direct-response campaigns. The “SocMed Helps Direct Response Rates” argument might help you get budget approval from upper management. LC

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How many times have you gone to a Website, and you can’t figure out what they want you to do?

Even if visitors don’t want to take action, they often want to know what action you would like them to take if they were so inclined. This telegraphs to the site visitor where you’re coming from.

I see nothing wrong with being straightforward about exactly what your agenda is on a Website. In fact, when I see such clear-headed directions, I’m relieved that I don’t have to spend more time trying to figure out what you’re trying to sell me, how you make money or what you want me to subscribe to. LC

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You might have tens of thousands or millions in your audience. But, you really talk to only one person at a time, and your words should come across that way.

When you write to faceless thousands or millions, it comes across as superficial as a TV commercial. We all know how meaningful TV commercials are in our lives … not.

Pick an audience member or imagine one person, and write to that person. Talk his/her language and reflect the person’s thoughts and feelings in your copy.

Can you imagine talking to a friend or colleague in the language and terms of a TV or radio commercial? It’s so absurd; it could be a “Saturday Night Live” skit.

Talk with your audience instead of talking at them. Whether F2F, in print, online or in broadcast, no one likes to be talked at. It’s a turnoff and is bound to suppress response rates because you’re not coming across as sincere or relevant. In short, write real. LC

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If you want to stay a couple steps in front of your competitors, keep a sharp lookout. Very often, the next big thing is really a small thing, greatly magnified.

Look at Twitter. There’s not much to it. Only 140 characters, in fact. And that’s because the founders wanted to make sure you could easily interact with Twitter on your cell phone. They wanted it to be as easy as, well, texting … which is another one of those small things you see everywhere.

But, just because you’ve identified a small thing that takes off, this doesn’t mean you have a meal ticket for life. You might, if you played it right at the beginning of the Internet, but then other trends can burn right out. Remember Friendster? MySpace is shrinking fast right now.

Twitter looks like it might be plateauing at this time of writing. Still, even if Twitter shrinks a bit, it will probably always be part of our landscape. Moving forward, we will always see an endless parade of new, cool stuff that might or might not burn out. Your job is to identify those waves and catch one that has legs. LC

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Online or offline, a marketing campaign that asks for the sale is called a direct response campaign. Twitter has hundreds of feeds that offer deals on everything you can think of, and then some. Blow-out deals or clearance deals are a natural commercial use for Twitter and other forms of SocMed.

Twitter is a good channel for Customer Relationship Marketing, which is also a subset of Direct Marketing. Many B2B sales relationships can take 12-18 months before resulting in an actual sale.

Direct Marketers of many disciplines are used to having direct contact with their audiences. Cataloguers and Membership Clubs are built on this model. So, put your Direct Marketing glasses on when you approach Social Media Marketing. While you’re wearing those Direct Marketing glasses, don’t forget to consistently test new things out and watch the response rates. Remember too, that some SocMed efforts don’t pay off right away. Some campaigns can take months to propagate or “go hot,” as they say. LC

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Paid search is about to go through major changes. The extent of change has yet to be determined. But it is already happening. Why? Because people’s search behavior is already shifting.

There are now millions of Twitter- and Facebook-specific searches rather than the traditional types of searches conducted at Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. How PPC ads perform in Real-Time Search will be one metric to watch closely.

Will people who are searching for “What’s happening right now?” rather than “I need more info on XYZ” be more or less apt to click on paid ads? Maybe certain types of paid ads will enjoy higher click-throughs than others. We’ll see.

As Search Guru Mike Grehan points out, thousands of apps totally sidestep the HTTP protocol by conducting proprietary searches. Apps such as OpenTable or CNN news alerts automatically search for news items for you.

Maybe there will be so many proprietary search apps bypassing search engines that the price of keywords in paid search will go up or down. It’s impossible to say right now, but it will be fascinating to watch this shift unfold. LC

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In his profoundly intriguing book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Nassim Nicholas Taleb points out we humans have a tendency to confirm what we think we already know. That got me to thinking about how much some people must test response rates in order to support assertions on which a campaign is based. Taleb suggests we would do well to prove ourselves wrong sometimes.

Whether people use test results to support real or imagined marketplace realities, I have to give credit to marketers who dedicate themselves to challenging their assertions.

Wanting to get as close to true reality by reading the marketplace ongoingly makes for more relevant messaging. I recommend Taleb’s The Black Swan to you. Parts of it will make your head hurt. Significant pieces of it will apply to Internet and Direct Response Marketing. Still other parts are thoughts you might have had yourself without saying so. I finished the book weeks ago but still think about it. LC

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Each year, I attend a number of Internet Marketing trade shows, including SES and ad:tech New York. But, I also follow a great many more shows by reading posts by bloggers who report on sessions they’re attending. They typically cover sessions in real time and must type as fast as blazes.

My favorite blogger is Lisa Barone, co-founder of Outspoken Media. Why? Because she artfully captures the essence of the sometimes wonky, way-in comments, presentations, and debates that take place on stage at these shows.

As I said, some of these sessions can get pretty wonky but are necessary to understand. Lisa helps the wonkiness go down easier with her good-natured, droll asides that make me laugh out loud. I recommend her coverage to you. You’ll learn new things. I do all the time. LC

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I like to look back at old data. It’s true. I look at site stats compared to a year ago. I look at click-through rates compared to a year ago. I even look at what people search for on my site compared to a year ago.

Why? Because I find fascinating insights. People’s search words change from year to year. It helps me stay on top of what interests them and that helps me plan editorial for Web Digest For Marketers.

Sometimes, click-throughs tell me the popularity of a given topic. I also notice clicks on ads and editorial build over longer and longer periods of time. This tells me to advise advertisers to leave whitepaper offers up for an extended time or make a webinar offered in an ad available after the fact by way of an archive. The 50-cent word for this sort of insight is “latency.”

The point is this: Look at campaign numbers and other stats more than just once or twice. Wait some weeks and months, and check in to compare the numbers with your last readings. Then, go back as far as a year later. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find. LC

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You can read countless newsletters, blogs, RSS and Twitter feeds about what is successful in Social Media. But the raw truth is this: Nothing substitutes for experience.

What are the response rates for your industry for Twitter feeds? You might not even be able to find out because your competitors consider this proprietary knowledge and not apt to give it up in trade publication interviews. What works for retail might not work for B2B. Or, what works in one B2B category has no bearing on another whatsoever.

For example, if your category skews younger, Twitter may work well. Older demographics may work less well because that medium is used more by younger folks. So, the only way you’ll know for sure is to do it yourself.

Of course, you want to follow closely what your peers are doing on FB, Twitter and mobile apps. In fact, if you find they’re thriving with large followings, you’re probably already behind in your learning curve if you’re not doing likewise. Use that as a clarion call for your company to get moving in these new channels now. LC

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