Rational Marketing

Tag: Maintain Customer Relationship

Opportunity to Wow with Service

According to Harvard Business Publishing and Accenture, only 40% of consumers say companies frequently or always meet their service expectations, according to Accenture’s survey of more than 5,000 people in 12 countries. That’s down from 45% in 2008 and 53% in 2007, the consulting firm says.

Is this the time to put together a direct mail piece describing your customer service?

February 4, 2010
Ideas to Stretch Your Mailing Dollars

Creating and producing direct mail advertising can get very expensive. But that does not mean you have to spend a fortune. You just need to know how to make the most of your dollars.

Mail to your best prospects or customers first.

Don’t drop huge quantities all at once. If you are mailing 50 letters to sell more to your best customers, 250 cards to convert first-time buyers to repeat buyers, or thousands of pieces to find qualified prospects, it’s all direct mail, it is measurable and accountable.

Maximize your return. Whenever you invest in postage to communicate with your customers, increase your yield on that investment by also asking for referrals, offering an incentive for new product ideas, direct them to a special page on your website or give them a “Yes or No” option to respond (Yes, I’m ready to buy now … No, I’m not ready now but I do want to stay informed about new products and services).

“Pass-along”. Increase your total exposure without increasing your costs. Ask the recipient to give your mail piece to an interested friend or co-worker. Make sure to provide some kind of a “thank you” for doing it and create a way to track this response too.

Make the postage stand out. Use a different looking stamp or indicia to gain reader interest and attention.

Stretch your budget. Use a more expensive printed mailing piece to your best customers or prospects and less expensive postcards to your secondary targets.

Effective direct mail does not have to cost a fortune.

February 1, 2010
Thrive in Turbulence

Deliver Magazine (the marketing magazine published by the US Postal Service) interviewed Philip Kotler, Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and here are some highlights. He was talking about his book, Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in The Age of Turbulence. I remember reading Kotler’s books in college, it is great that his new ideas are still so relevant.

Eight ways to flourish despite widespread uncertainty and upheaval

1. Secure your market share from core customer segments. Your first priority is to get your core customer segments firmly secured. This is no time to get too greedy. Be prepared to ward off attacks from competitors attempting to take away your most loyal and profitable customers.

2. Push aggressively for greater market share. All companies fight for market share and, in chaotic times, many have been weakened. Slashing marketing budgets and sales travel budgets are sure signs that a competitor is buckling under pressure. Add to your core customer segments at the expense of your weakened competitors.

3. Research customers now more than ever. Everyone is under pressure during times of turbulence and chaos, which means all customers are changing their habits — even those in your core segments whom you know so well. Stay close to them. You don’t want to find yourself relying on old marketing messages that no longer resonate.

4. Seek to increase — or at least maintain — your marketing budget. This is the worst time to think about cutting anything in your marketing budget that targets your core customer segments. In fact, you need to add to this budget, or take money away from those forays you were planning to go after totally new customer segments. It’s time to secure the home front.

5. Focus on all that’s safe. When turbulence is scaring everyone in the market, there is a massive flight to safety by most consumers. They need to feel the safety and security of your company and its products and services. Do everything possible to communicate that continuing to do business with you is safe. Spend whatever it takes to do it.

6. Quickly drop programs that aren’t working. If you’re not watching your spending, rest assured that someone else is — including your peers whose budgets couldn’t be protected from the ax. Cut out ineffective programs before someone else calls attention to them.

7. Don’t discount your best brands. When you do this, you instantly tell the market two things: Your prices were too high before, and your brands won’t be worth the price in the future once the discount is gone. Instead, consider creating a new, distinct product or service offering under a new brand with lower prices. This gives value-conscious customers the ability to stay close to you while not alienating those still willing to pay for your higher-priced brands. Once the turbulence subsides, you may consider discontinuing your newly introduced branded value product line — or not.

8. Save the strong; lose the weak. In a turbulent economy, you need to make your strongest brands and products even stronger. There’s no time or money to be wasted on marginal brands or overly fragile products that aren’t supported by strong value propositions and a solid customer base.

January 18, 2010
Doing More with Less
These days we are all doing more with less:
- Squeezing the very last bit of toothpaste from the tube
- Cooking more at home, using leftovers
- Giving your time as Christmas gift
- Finding joy in shopping bargains
Direct mail has always been the advertising method that offers measurable results. Mail is scalable, you can send as many cards or letters as you can afford and have the resources to fulfill. In this economic climate, this is still true and more important than ever.

We recently attended a seminar that talked about marketing. They spent a lot of time talking about websites, social networking, search optimization… Yes they are all important, yes they are more important now than ever before. However, they are not the only way you can and should interact with your customers and your potential customers. Do you have a valid email address from everyone who has purchased from you before? Does every one of your customers want your marketing messages in their email inbox? We know that different types of people respond to different types of messages from many sources.

You need to be able to be found in the moment of purchase, that means when someone searches for you on the Internet, you are there. But what about being on the short list of possible vendors? Maintaining relationships with customers who have purchased from you before is less expensive than investing resources to capture and create a bond with a new client.
January 8, 2010
Marketing in Tough Times

These are ideas we shared some time ago. They are still true.

Don’t cut your marketing budget! Those businesses that continue to advertise will triumph when the economy picks up (and it will).

Let your customers help you. Retaining your existing customers and getting repeat business from them should be your highest priority. Customer testimonials are extremely effective in gaining new business. Referrals help you close new sales very easily and don’t forget to reward the customer who provided the reference.

Focus your marketing. This means use direct mail, marketing and offers that allow you to measure the results.

Be consistent with your advertising. If you are not persistent in your advertising, your customers will not recall you and will place orders with someone else.

Alter your marketing messages to take advantage of declining trends and promote features that relate to saving money for the user of your product or service. For example, “we just installed a new piece of equipment that is up to 50% faster — that’s a real labor saving advantage.”

Don’t keep doing what you’re doing just because you’ve always done it. Don’t let inertia be your marketing plan. Change creative often, unless it’s working.

Write a sales letter to your best friend, even if you’re not a writer: David Ogilvy got some of his best headlines from his clients. You’ll probably write a compelling, honest and factual account of why your product or service is worth considering.

January 7, 2010