Rational Marketing

Tag: Tough Times Marketing

Get It Done!

Many people enjoy swapping stories of disasters, but the “saves” are so much more common. Mailing professionals often catch errors on a proof, suggest a redesign that saves handling or postage, fix mistakes on printed pieces with creative ingenuity and maybe some stickers, notice that the list is wrong, catch a huge number of duplicates, and work overtime to get the mail out in one day!

There are so many times when others in the chain (project leader, artist, layout, printer…) run into challenges and time delays. When the pieces are finally off the printing press, the deadlines have all been missed and keep slipping and all of a sudden we are a week away from “it” (a major sale, an event, the end of the month…). Then somehow, someway we as your direct mail shop get the mail to the post office and the pieces get delivered right on time.

What are you doing to survive and thrive right now? Do you still have the ‘git-er done’ attitude?

March 17, 2010
More For Less For More

In an interesting Harvard Business Review post by Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu, and Simone Ahuja, the authors discuss an emerging trend. More for Less for More (M4L4M) is a strategy that places an emphasis on delivering more value for less cost for more people.

More for More, the current approach taken by many Western firms, charges customers a hefty premium for often over-engineered products. Less for More is China’s low-cost strategy of creating stripped down products that cost less and manufacturing them on a large scale for global markets. Unlike these two approaches, M4L4M offers firms a new way to reconcile multiple, seemingly contradictory financial equations: deliver more experiential value to customers while simultaneously reducing the cost and delivering that value to a greater number of people.

Entrepreneurs are learning to extract more value from limited resources. They are embracing creative mindsets practiced by resource-constraints to invent affordable and sustainable solutions that deliver more value to more people at less cost. As a forward-thinking business leader, what can you redesign within your organization to deliver more value at less cost for more customers? What are you doing to meet the needs of increasingly frugal but demanding customers in a world of scarcity?

How about marketing? Are there new ways to communicate more for less for more? This is another time to consider direct mail.

March 8, 2010
How to Save on Printing

Use postcards when appropriate. They’re fast, easy and affordable to produce.

If you plan to mail a series of postcards or self-mailers, print all versions at the same time, then mail them over time. The larger your print run, the lower the cost per printed piece.

Consider printing a year’s worth of four-color “shells” or basic templates (lower cost per piece for printing), then go back and do one-color imprints of specific messages or offers in smaller quantities throughout the year.

Consider one-color printing on colored or textured paper stock or other methods to save on printing.

Try two-color printing with screens to add visual interest.

Recycle an existing brochure or catalog by using a sticker, overwrap or other way to call attention to a specific product, service or offer inside.

Reactivate interest in a catalog that’s already in your customers’ hands by mailing out a postcard with a photo of the catalog cover on it and making a special limited offer.

Reduce printing and inserting costs by making your letter double as the reply device. Print the response information at the bottom of the letter and ask for the entire letter to be returned to you.

January 22, 2010
Reasons to Mail Now

There are no filters removing printed mail from good old-fashioned mailboxes.

Nobody likes an empty mailbox! Mail volume has decreased, a really good offer to the right person has a great chance of standing out.

January 21, 2010
Branding

Now is a great time to take advantage of direct mail and other underused marketing channels.

Many businesses have shifted advertising to online efforts. Maybe this is the time to see our current economy as an opportunity. What a great occasion to increase brand advertising!

Successful brand advertising is all about building a connection with your customer, this establishes your business or product as something which is known and trusted. Brand marketing helps us trust a company and buy when we see their ads later on. One of the greatest challenges for smaller businesses is to establish a name for themselves, and a downturn actually provides an opportunity to do that because it tends to suppress brand building advertising. What a great chance to be able to jump over your competitors, especially if the market leader has curtailed their advertising spending during the downturn.

January 20, 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
Entrepreneurs Find Direct Mailings Still Key to Winning Customers

The Wall Street Journal published an article on January 12^th that discussed the experiences of businesses that tried to replace their direct mail marketing with various forms of email marketing. Their trials did not work; they went back to direct mail.

The article discussed some new strategies of sending more personalized messages to a very select list of current and prospective customers. Please see the previous postings titled “Do More Marketing with Less Money” and “Doing More with Less” for some more ideas about how to make the most of mail.

Mail is a great way to reach your customers and prospects with relevant offers and information. Your audience will give you their time and attention to consider what you have to say.

January 15, 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