When we talk about multichannel marketing many marketers fail to include direct mail in the mix and concentrate only on the digital world. However, as we can see from the article below, this approach is flawed. While incorporating online channels into your marketing efforts is vital, we can't overlook customer preferences, many of which prefer to receive printed materials over email for some types of communications. By simply cutting print entirely and forcing the consumer into an entirely online relationship you may end up cutting off communications with some customer's altogether.

While email does have its advantages, for both marketers and consumers, we can't overlook the fact that more email than ever is being sent to consumers, clogging their inbox's, sometimes causing your message to be lost in the crowd. Consumers will only open emails that are relevant to them and that are from trusted brands. One way to build that brand trust is to offer customers a choice of what they want to receive and how they want to receive it.  The key is to ensure that your message is consistent across channels and relevant to the consumer you are targeting. By offering customers a choice and delivering on it, you will maximize your marketing dollars by increasing your ROI.

Direct Mail Dominates as Customers' Preferred Information Channel

Though considered outdated by some, direct mail holds an emotional connection, making it the favored mode of brand communication for U.S. and Canadian consumers.

By Anna Papachristos | Published 12/20/2011 in 1to1 Magazine

Just like a gift at the holidays, receiving a letter in the mail brings with it a childlike sense of excitement. But now, with the technological revolution afoot, much of our mail arrives electronically, becoming a nuisance rather than a pleasure. However, when it comes to brand communications, U.S. and Canadian consumers continue to prefer "old school" direct mail above all other forms of contact.

According to Epsilon Targeting's 2011 Channel Preference Study, "The Formula for Success: Preference and Trust," 60 percent of U.S. consumers and 64 percent of Canadian consumers enjoy checking their mailboxes each day, signaling an emotional connection with direct mail. The study, which polled 2,226 U.S. consumers and 2,574 Canadian consumers, also reveals that 50 percent of U.S. respondents and 48 percent of Canadian respondents pay more attention to postal mail than email. Additionally:

*Thirty percent of U.S. respondents and 50 percent of Canadian respondents said they're receiving more direct mail that interests them as compared to a year ago.

*There's a perception that reading email is quicker than sifting through postal mail. However, only 45 percent of U.S. respondents agreed with that in 2011, down slightly from 47 percent in 2010, suggesting that clogged inboxes are increasingly a time drain.

*This year saw a 66 percent increase in consumer product information research and review via Facebook. Yet, 33 percent of U.S. consumers and 31 percent of Canadian consumers said that they don't find advertisements on social media sites useful.

*Thirty seven percent of U.S. respondents and 29 percent of Canadian respondents use television to get consumer product information daily, down from 43 percent and 35 percent, respectively, in 2010.

*The least trustworthy channels are social media and blogs, garnering only 6 percent and 5 percent of U.S. and Canadian trust, respectively.

*Of those who prefer email over postal mail, 34 percent of U.S. respondents and 42 percent of Canadian respondents cited saving on paper as their main impetus.

 Key takeaway: Acting on customers' contact preferences facilitates customer trust because customers then feel that they're in charge of how and when they're contacted. To convey brand communications in an effective, successful manner, marketers must first come to understand which channels appeal to which customers during various points of the purchase cycle. This will allow marketers to build a cross-channel marketing strategy that reinforces information shared offline and vice versa.

Being a direct marketing service provider we are always looking for best practices to provide our clients when they are developing a direct marketing campaign. There are many lists of best practices available and most are very similar and touch the same themes. I recently found this list of core best practices and thought it was concise and clearly touched upon the most significant steps when developing a direct marketing campaign.

1. Tightly identify your target market.

Really know and understand to whom you are marketing and why. This allows you to focus your message and make it more relevant.

2. Have good prospect and customer data.

Nothing can botch a personalized campaign like misspelled names or outdated data. Marketing relevance starts with good, clean, up-to-date customer information.

3. Use a "value offer" strategy.

All the personalization in the world won't matter if the recipients don't see the relevance of the contact. Make sure you have a compelling offer that the recipients see as being of importance to them.

4. Coordinate creative execution across multiple media.

All direct mail campaigns need a great message and a creative approach. If you reinforce this message across multiple media, such as following up with a personalized e-mail, results can soar.

5. Use interactivity that engages the prospect in a dialog.

Don't just send information out. Get it back! Engage the recipient in a dialog, such as using surveys in personalized URL campaigns. This creates a bond with your company and gives you more information to further target offers in the future.

6. Test, test, test.

What works best to bring in more business? Try using different images or different messages to learn more about your customer's needs. Since the price per piece of digital press output is the same regardless of the number of pieces printed, this lets you test your message without price penalty. Test different messages. Test different offers. Use every campaign as an opportunity to learn what strategies are most effective with your customer base.

7. Define success metrics.

What will you consider success? Are you trying to achieve a certain dollar volume of sales? Have a certain percentage of customers upgrade? Retain a certain percentage of customers? If you don't define "success" ahead of time, how will you know if you have achieved your goal?

8. Communicate and share results.

Share your results with us. If we know the results of the program, we can use our expertise to help you refine your program next time. If you don't share your results, you are missing an opportunity for even greater success in the future.

Mon, 10 Jan 2011

Mark Thomson, media director at Royal Mail, gazes into his crystal ball and predicts what the major trends for the year ahead will be.

2010 has been a year of contradictions. In many ways it heralded the rise of the digital revolution, with social media in particular taking centre stage. This signified the breaking down of barriers between brand and customer, and the start of a two-way dialogue.

However, the economic downturn has also led to a resurgence of more traditional channels, as consumers look for trust and personalisation in the brands they interact with.

For marketers, the recession has meant one thing - innovation. Faced with increasingly stiff competition, they have been forced to explore more creative routes to customer interaction and engagement.

The past year has also seen a subtle power shift in the customer's favour. Increased competition means that customers are more selective about who they associate with and the messages they will pass on to their peers. This means that marketers need to work harder to be heard above the noise, and also to tailor messaging to an individual rather than a demographic. I believe that this trend will continue to develop during the coming year. Channel selection is equally important as creative messaging here.

According to FastMAP research, direct mail is back, having regained its position as the consumer's favourite direct marketing channel because people love to receive well-targeted, well-crafted messaging.

In my view, 2011 will see the rise of experiential marketing. This doesn't just apply to the traditional 'event' approach either - channels such as direct mail will embrace more interactive approaches, using smell, touch and taste to create an experience for the customer and build word of mouth and deeper brand interaction.

Value exchange will become increasingly important. Gone are the days when customers are happy to hand over their details without receiving something tangible in return. Brands need to provide value such as free events, money off vouchers or exclusive opportunities to make customers feel special and encourage them to share something about themselves in exchange.

Innovations such as this can also provide an opportunity to collect prospect data, which can be used to enhance future campaigns with more personal targeting. 'Individualisation' will be the buzzword of 2011 - it is no longer enough to merely add personalised touches. The market has a long way to go before it recovers to pre-recession levels, and marketers need to be aware of the importance of maintaining interest levels among their customer base and ensuing content remains relevant to prospects.

Digital communications and social media will continue to play a key role in brand communications. However, it is important to remember that an online strategy should not replace an offline one - many of the strengths of offline channels such as direct mail play directly to the weaknesses of online channels such as email marketing. For example, direct mail is a more effective medium through which to communicate detailed information that the consumer may want to keep and refer back to.

It is imperative that brands serious about delivering sales, building their brands, and engendering customer loyalty look beyond online to a more combined online and physical communications strategy.

WPP recently released a set of results showing that traditional media has seen a rise in popularity over the past year. Throughout the coming year, I predict that traditional channels will go from strength to strength. Having proven their mettle during tough economic times, now that green shoots are starting to show, traditional media channels have the opportunity to showcase a truly innovative new approach. As marketers begin to move away from survival mode and look towards growing market share and taking risks, it's time for offline media to spread its wings and break the mould