Internet Direct Marketing Tip of the Day

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How many of us go through our postal mail near or over a trash can? Most of us, I suspect. The delete key executes the exact same snap judgment action for our email IN boxes. How many of us review our email with the trigger finger right on that delete key? Most of us, I suspect.
This is why the subject header of your email has to “speak” directly to the recipient, and why the branding of the “FROM” field becomes all important. Having the recipient see your email and start inwardly groaning “Oh no, not him again” needs to be avoided by consistently serving up high value inside each and every email. DM’ers refer to this as loyalty building. I call it common sense. LC

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I like text ads much better than banners. Why? I can get lots more information into and out of a textual ad. There are branding appeals to a banner ad, I know. There are other reasons why you might use banner ads as well. But my experience in email and on the Web is that text ads pull many times better than graphical units.

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Most direct marketers make the basic assumption that the response rate of each ad is the only measure of the effectiveness of that ad. This isn’t true. It’s often the case that there is a cumulative effect of direct response ads that in some cases eventually results in a click or other response. Call this the branding effect of direct response. Numerous studies show that when a brand is heavily advertised in non-DM channels, response rates do go up because of higher top-of-mind awareness. Also, you have to figure that every prospect reading a direct response ad is not going to take action at that moment. They may later, when they’re ready, and make some mental note to put you on their short list. These efforts are harder to measure and quantify. But it’s well worth keeping in mind. You can present your wares to the same audience multiple times, and still have each effort be effective because of this cumulative effect.

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Do your ads use the same language your audience would use if they were talking about the subject of your ad? If you’re speaking another language, or “missing the mark” with the approach you’re employing, you’re leaving money on the table. PPC copy does well when it mimics the words used by the person conducting a search. Solo email subject lines need to resonate with the recipient or it’s delete city for that solo email. The same is true in all media. It’s just online, you see the results right away. That’s a good thing because then you can instantly adjust until you hit your mark.

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If you see your competitor running the same creative over and over, it means one of two things: 1) They have too much money, and they’re not trying to improve results; or 2) The campaign is working so well that they don’t want to touch it because it’s just so successful. If the second scenario is the case, then it’s your job to study their copy closely to see what’s making it effective. If it’s just “hot air” copy that doesn’t inspire action, then you know your competitors are just wasting their marketing budget.

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Look at what your target audience uses for search phrases, then write your website copy with those search phrases in mind. You know how you like it when you see your exact search phrase in bold in search results? Well, think about using those same words in your headlines and body copy and in the hidden descriptors on your Web pages. LC

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Many marketing businesses are guilty of spending all their time and attention on working the acquisition or front end of the sales pipeline - and leaving good money on the table back at the tail. The tail end is where existing or previous clients and customers reside. You’ve already got them, or had them at one point. How many billions of dollars are left on the table because leads weren’t followed up on, or only a single pass was made without giving them a second thought? There’s good money in the relationships you already have. LC

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In this rapidly changing marketing environment, don’t assume any assumption is certain forever. Regularly revisit those things you know to be certain, because they may not be so. What worked like a charm three years ago may no longer work today. Unless you test and challenge basic assertions, you may not realize that something hasn’t been performing up to snuff - or maybe even hurting you.
Perhaps the only thing you can really take for granted is that you can’t take anything for granted. LC

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The average person is hit with over 3,000 commercial messages per day. If you want your target to take action, you’d better have a compelling reason why that action must take place now. It may be some story about a one-time inventory clearance or interest rate shift or what have you, but it needs to not only be timely, but believable. It’s the believable part that many marketers stumble on. Make it real, make it now. LC

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It’s too easy to simply look at the summary of your Web metrics program for your site and think you’ve got an understanding of what’s going on. It’s easy, but it’s misleading. Page views and unique visitors only tell part of the story. There are real people on the other end of those statistics. They’re looking for something on your site. It’s your job to convert the raw “nums” from your site into a storyline about the real people surfing your site. It’s your job to figure out how many different types of visitors there are and group and serve them accordingly. It’s also your job to get your site to “talk” to these respective audiences in the way they want to be addressed. Only then do you have a site that is firing on all cylinders and serving both your needs and those of your visitors.

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