Chris Miller on Marketing.com

"Tiger Woods" and Chris Miller Demonstrate the Importance of a Strong Headline

I won't need to check my Google traffic reports to know that this will be my most clicked and read blog post to date. This post is about the importance of carefully crafting attention getting headlines, titles, and subjects to break through marketing clutter and get the attention you deserve.

By including a hot phrase like "Tiger Woods" in my headline, I was able to stop you in your tracks and have you take action toward reading my blog.

Let's take this opportunity to go over the three goals for creating a wildly-successful headline, does it:

1. Get the reader's attention
2. Describe and attach value to the information that follows
3. Elicit a response from your intended audience

Without a strong headline this post may have gone unread. Always remember and reference the above goals when structuring your communications, even when it comes to leaving phone messages with prospective employers or introducing yourself to your next soulmate.

Unfortunately the general media also knows these tricks and that's how they keep you coming back for more. Most recently they enabled Tiger Woods to nearly eclipse an entire day of golf and the Olympics following his press conference on Friday. People are mesmerized by celebrity and armed with that knowledge even a small-time blogger like myself can leverage Tiger's name to get attention. Luckily I'm trying to educate not sell newspapers.

Marketing the Presidency, One E-mail at a Time

In an "unpresidented" move (pardon the pun), the first president to use e-mail while in office, let alone a Blackberry, Barack Obama has been forwarding copies of "highly-confidential" e-mails to The Guardian for over a year now. Read them here.

I believe few would disagree that this is little more than an ongoing marketing campaign toward increasing the perception of transparency of government and the White House, a stigma that plagued the last administration.

Last week's topics included a thoughtful e-mail to his daughter regarding how Bill and Hillary will likely spend Valentines Day apart, how different terminology makes a difference in public opinion polling on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and a humorous jab at John McCain and the GOP's disbelief of global warming. My biggest takeaway was a question: Did someone in the White House really throw a snowball at John McCain (from the East Wing of course), hilarious!

On a serious note, I sincerely hope nothing highly-confidential (e.g. matters of national security and internal discussions on public policy) is being sent by our president via plain-text e-mail/Blackberry, and certainly not to a British newspaper ahead of one published in the States.

As a marketing lesson, what better way to create transparency and outreach than through opening up lines of less-formal communication, especially ones with such positive undertones as these? Maybe this is part of the reason that I, along with many other leaders and CEOs, have started their own blogs.

Marketing to business executives and decision makers

When marketing to business executives and decision makers, it is important to understand that they are a different kind of beast. These people are used to being inundated by people and ideas from all sides, so they've likely developed a sleuth of techniques toward minimizing their exposure and filtering out the good ideas from the bad.

For instance, as a marketer, business executive and decision maker myself, I am someone who receives many phone calls and I try to always answer my phone when it rings. If a salesperson/telemarketer calls me more than once, and says nothing I find interesting, I store that number in my phone with the person/company name followed by DNA (short for do not answer) and suddenly that person will never reach me again.

I have my assistant/gatekeeper sort through my mail/e-mails following specific instructions of what to keep for my review and what to discard. If I want to learn more about something, I'll have her follow-up and gather objective details before I make any decisions or review the facts myself.

Marketing to business executives and decision makers then requires "out of the box" thinking to deliver results. At the most basic level, marketing to business executives and decision makers requires more time and energy and they will respond to your extra efforts. After all, these are the type of go-getters that they are looking to work with. If you can breakthrough all the clutter and safeguards they've carefully devised then certainly what you have to say might be worth hearing.

For instance, sending an enveloped, photocopied letter in the mail with a snazzy brochure offering product xyz can easily yield zero results even if you send 10,000 of them at a cost of $7,500.

Instead, for that same $7,500 you can send 1,000 flat rate envelopes with the Signature Confirmation service and a full-color, personalized letter (e.g. Dear John) and the same brochure. Or, forego the fancier flat rate envelope and now you can send a quantity of 2,500. As the deliveries are confirmed, because every letter MUST be signed for, you might consider following-up with a phone call, even if into the gatekeeper, and this will make an impression on the business executives as it is clear you are trying to reach out and have something to say. Instead of seeing a 0-0.5% response rate you can expect 2-5% when you run an aggressive campaign like this: smarter mail, even less of it, yields better results. And if you do use the flat rate envelope, you can even stuff a little trinket inside like a pen or keychain or something tangible and creative for them to remember you by and keep on their desk.

Think outside the box and be aggressive in new ways to get in touch when marketing to business executives and decision makers. Feel free to comment and post other great ideas below or contact me if you want fresh ideas for your business.

Advertising nuclear power's ability to create jobs: A lesson in piggybacking your marketing message

The nuclear industry, building upon and following a shout-out by Barack Obama during his State of the Union Address last week, has announced a new advertising campaign emphasizing the promise of new job creation.

As the economy shows little signs of a fast recovery and as the east coast is hit by some of the coldest temperatures since the 70's, intuitively (albeit wrongly), concerns about global warming and environmental pollution will no doubt take a backseat this year as policymakers in Washington make decisions about America's future sources of energy. Currently ~19% of our energy comes from nuclear power but I wouldn't be surprised if we see that number increase to ~30% or more in the next couple decades.

Without speaking to the environmental impact of these decisions, the marketing lesson to be learned is in the extreme power of piggybacking your own agenda on top of current events to sidestep resistance that might have been present just 18 months ago or even a couple months ago ahead of Copenhagen's conference on global warming. Suddenly job creation is paramount and certainly the world can wait another couple years before we address global warming, after all look how cold it is outside.

Furthermore, the campaign is being specifically targeted toward policymakers so most of us in the U.S. will never see a single advertisement toward which we might revolt, tweet about, post to Facebook, or otherwise voice our agreement or dismay. Another smart marketing lesson: know your audience, target them precisely, and avoid the naysayers.

E-mail marketing advantages and response rates.

Using e-mail marketing is a great way to maintain existing relationships or supplement your relationship-building efforts with new contacts.

Keeping current customers informed with a consistent e-mail marketing communications program is usually appreciated; typical readership rates for loyal customers range from 30-60%.

If you are informing your customers on new features of your product or web site, then you can expect response rates of 5-15% as measured by usage of the new features and related inquiries.

To build a strong base of e-mail members, add value by providing helpful free reports on your industry, product, or service. Provide free best practices cheatsheets, decision-making whitepapers, recommendations on related technologies, and online how-to seminars. And then require that all site visitors, participants, and downloaders supply their e-mail address and sign-up to be on your mailing list or blog feed.

When connecting with new prospects, coordinating the delivery of an e-mail message with a direct mail piece or friendly phone call or voice broadcast is a great idea. Typically, the marginal cost of adding an additional medium to your campaign is well outweighed by the resulting increase in response rate. Coordinating the delivery of multiple types of communications at once is called a multi-channel marketing campaign and is very effective at increasing response and conversation rates and return-on-investment (ROI). I'll talk more about multi-channel marketing in future posts.

Using e-mail marketing or e-mail blasting as a stand-alone method of attracting new customers without prior contact with the recipients is a horrible idea and considered junk/spam mail or spamming. This is unethical, immoral and it pollutes the Internet.

Will my phone number on the Do-Not-Call Registry (DNC list) expire after five years?

Your phone number listing on the national Do-Not-Call Registry will remain permanent effective February 2008, per the National Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007.

Previously, the registry expired numbers after five years, but those earliest numbers never got removed because the first registrations from October 2003 would not have expired until this October 2008, now every number registered will remain on the registry.

Approximately three-quarters (76 percent) of U.S. adults are registered on the Do-Not-Call Registry. Ninety-two (92) percent report receiving fewer telemarketing calls. Source: Harris Poll 2006

Where and how to find a good direct mailing list.

I've used pretty much every major mailing list provider in the U.S. over the years, so I wanted to share with all of you my knowledge of who are the best based upon the type of data you are trying to obtain. Often it is cheaper and easier to go through a reseller than directly to the source, so I've listed suggested resellers as well.

I may/will update this list from time to time as necessary, it is certainly a work in progress. I am happy to test, review, and comment on other providers as well so please tip me off if I've missed a noteworthy company or data category.

Residential Mailing Lists (for Real Estate and Mortgage or local businesses):
Direct sources: CIS Direct, Advo/Valassis, Title companies
Reseller: Accudata/InfoUsa

Consumer Lifestyles and Habits Identification
Direct sources: Axciom
Reseller: Accudata

Consumer Credit/Finance-Driven Lists:
Direct sources: Experian, Axciom
Reseller: Accudata

Business Listings:
Direct source: Dun & Bradstret (zapdata.com)
Aggregator: Accudata/InfoUSA

Commercial Real Estate:
Direct source: SiteX

Custom Data Modeling and Profiling based upon your existing customer base:
Modeling: Genalytics (uses Axciom data)
Data: Axciom (uses Genalytics modeling)

The #2 most important aspect of your direct marketing campaign response: Make a real offer!

Maximizing your direct marketing campaign response is critical.

If you're following rule #1, below, you've got a good mailing list of potential customers.

So what's next? You need to make sure that when people engage with your marketing campaign that they are compelled to action. This means, you need to make it worth their while to do something.

Make a real offer!

The promise of a "free home loan evaluation" from a mortgage broker or real estate agent, or a "free consultation" from a doctor isn't a real offer. It's something people expect and know they can get any time, any where. Think about something that would make you act. And make a real offer.

When I applied for an air miles-earning credit card recently, I had saved all of my direct mailer offers for a month or two. I went online and did a quick Google search and perusal of about.com's recommendations and had narrowed my options down to four or five cards.

Next, I went through all of my mailers looking for the cards I read about online and then I made my decision based upon who was making me the best offer by cross-referencing the specific point systems, signing bonuses, and interest rates. For the record, I elected to apply for the Jet Blue Sky Miles by American Express card, because it will allow me to earn flights the fastest and I like flying Jet Blue.

Any of the other mailers I received had an equal chance of getting my business, but I wasn't reading the catchy tag lines or evaluating the pieces based on creativity, all I did was look for the offer.

The #1 most important step of direct marketing: Start with a good mailing list!

The most important step in direct marketing, the perverbial "secret bullet" of marketing success, involves selecting your audience carefully. The best product and offer is worth nothing to the wrong person.

"As much as 80% of the success of a direct marketing campaign is dependent on the recipient, the offer and creative piece makes up the other 20%."

What's the best day of the week to deliver your direct mail or direct marketing messages?

The timely delivery of your marketing communications are critical to their success. For instance, a supermarket that mails an advertisement for a pre-cooked and boxed Thanksgiving Dinner on Dec 1 wouldn't see good results. While the  timing of some offers may seem fairly obvious and business-driven, there are also other factors to be considered including the day of week and common, foreseeable conflicting calendar events.

Friday/Saturday people receive a lot of mail/communications and are trying to get out of the office and get onto their leasure and recreation activities.

Monday is typically the heaviest mail delivery day and people are playing catch-up at work while being inundated with phone calls and e-mails.

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday tend to be the lightest mail days; individuals are on top of their workload and well into their typical mid-week shuffle. This is the best time to get their attention. Aim for Wednesday delivery of direct mail, e-mail, TV, and telemarketing communications.

Common, conflicting calendar dates should not be forgotten either:
Christmas Day through New Years Day are a lull unless you have promotions geared toward the season (e.g. a retailer's "After-Christmas Blowout Sale"). Many families vacation when schools take an annual spring/ski/easter break for a week. Graduation weekend/the first weekend of summer is also a tricky time to get in contact with consumers. July 4th can be a big travel and party holiday in the U.S. (especially when it falls on a weekend) - probably not the best time to sell someone on a mortgage refinance. There are a few other three-day weekends throughout the year that should be considered as well.

Does direct marketing work? Does direct mail work? What kind of direct mail response rates can I expect?

Often times I am asked whether or not direct marketing works, does direct mail work, what kind of direct mail response rate can I expect?

Does direct marketing work? Does direct mail work? Yes. Why? Because direct marketing done right gets you in front of your target audience, delivers your message, and creates a sale.

And the statistics support me: In 2007, with $173.2 Billion spent on direct marketing, advertisers generated over $2 Trillion in sales. Thats a 935% return on investment. Source: DMA 2007

Depending on the medium used, the audience, and the message/offer being delivered, direct marketing response rates typically average between 0.25% and 5%. For instance, a first-time direct mailing to an unknown audience could yield a 0.5-1% response rate without a big offer and clever design. A similar campaign to a familiar audience/prior customer could produce 3-5% response or more. A successful first-time mailing to an unknown audience should produce a 1-2% response.

In today's  marketing environment, it is becoming more and more important to personalize your marketing communications to your audience and make it easier than ever for them to respond. The use of 1-1 (VDP) digital printing, pesonalized URLs, voice broadcasting/IVR systems, geographic/demographic targeted tv advertising, e-mail marketing, consistent branding, and web-search optimization techniques are becoming marketing necessities as a means of interacting with your consumers, not just added fun.

The most used direct marketing methods used, ranked by expenditures (which could be construed as effectiveness), include:

1. Telemarketing (38%)
2. Direct mail (24%)
3. Television (12%)
4. Newspaper (10%)
5. Other (8%)
6. Magazine (5%)
7. Radio (4%)

Source: "Economic Impact: U.S. direct & interactive marketing today," The Direct Marketing Association, 1999