Sep 03

Distribution Direct Mail Tips for Chinese restaurants and takeaways.

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The printing and distribution of menus is a commonly used method of advertising and marketing by owners of both Chinese takeaways and restaurants. There are many types of distribution methods available to you, each with varying success. One of the more is to distribute via direct mail. If this interests you, read these tips which could help your campaign be a successful one.

You direct mailing campaign does require a lot of thought and consideration in order for you to make it a success. The first step of doing this is to thoroughly plan your method of attack. For example if you are promoting your free delivery service, you wouldn’t want to be doing so in an area where it is not applicable – otherwise it will be a waste of your menus.

If you want to have the best chance of reaching as many people as possible from your direct mailing campaign, you will need to have a good understanding of those who live in your area. For example, some, or in areas of universities, many of the homes may be separated into student accommodation, where it would be a great idea to deliver more than one menu.

Unfortunately your customers will tend to have a habit of loosing, damaging or simply throwing away your menus. Because of this, you will need to ensure that you provide them with a fresh batch of menus on a frequent basis. If you do this, you should be able to maintain and expand your client base.

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Sep 03

Small Business Advertising – Internet Yellow Pages, TV or radio, direct mail?

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Small businesses face many challenges when choosing how to invest in advertising that will attract new customers. The biggest issue, of course, is to spend money on advertising that will bring direct measurable results. While many ad salespeople will use phrase like “building a brand” or “having tip of the tongue recognition,” most business owners want one thing: sales and a direct return on investment.

In most markets, small business owners have at least the following options: Internet, newspapers, yellow pages, radio, television and mailings. Each medium has distinct advantages and disadvantages.

A web site for almost any business of size is essential. This should be the central place for potential customers or clients to learn about the basics of your business; that is, your products, services, location, hours and contact information. This is your 24/7 receptionist and salesperson. For most businesses, this will be a major funnel through which many of your customers make learn about you and make contact. Your web site address should be on all of your other advertising, as it is the only way for you to provide comprehensive information about your products or services to anyone at any time in any place.

The only other medium that has 24/7 coverage is the yellow pages. There are several problems, however, with yellow pages advertising. First, most markets are covered by several directories, which, in effect, lessons the chances that potential customers will find your ad if you do not advertise in all the directories. Second, the yellow pages are a slowly dying medium. In 2008, Internet searches for local information (i.e, a local restaurant or plumber) exceeded that of yellow pages directories. Most Internet users would confirm this; they seldom use the phone book these days. A small business owner, though, has to balance the costs and reduced coverage with the possibility of not reaching a segment of the population. Older, less tech savvy people are likely to be using the yellow pages in greater frequency than younger, more connected people.

Radio salespeople love to use the word “tip of the tongue recognition.” By this they mean that radio advertising will help to place your businesses’ name at the “tip of their tongue” when people need a product or service. So, say the ad salespeople, radio advertising will help build long-term recognition for a business, even if the ads do not create immediate sales. This may be true to some extent, but most small business owners are likely to be looking for more immediate and tangible results. Radio does make sense for an event, like a limited-time promotion or a one-off event, as it can reach thousands of listeners in a timely manner, but the value of radio advertising for a good or service that most people do not need immediately, is dubious. Other considerations for radio advertising is coverage and listenership. Be sure to ask the ad salespeople for detailed information about demographic and geographic coverage.

Television, much like radio advertising, exposes viewers to a fleeting message about the business. TV ad salespeople, like radio ad salespeople, say that their medium creates tip of the tongue recognition. This is probably true is you advertise a lot on TV, but for a small ad buy, television is likely to have few lasting effects. Like radio, it is a great way to reach a lot of people quickly, which is important when advertising for an event or one-off promotion.

Direct mail can be a very affordable way to reach very narrow segments of the population. If you have a business that sells to other businesses, you can reach every business in your market quickly and with relatively low costs with a direct mail campaign. The immediate response rate might be one or two percent, and the long term response rate two or three times that. The advantage of direct mail is that it puts your message in the offices or homes of potential customers in a target manner. For example, you can rent a direct mail list that targets new movers living in a specific area code with a certain income level. The yellow pages, radio and television lack this level of targeting; that is, you will be paying to reach everyone, even though your product or service might only be valuable to a few.

There is likely to be no one source of advertising that is going to grow your businesses rapidly. For certain, you need a foundation for all of your advertising initiatives and that should be a good, informative web site. After you have your base, branch out and sample some of the other media. Most are likely to have first-time advertiser rates, and depending on your local economy, some will sell residual ad inventory at a significant discount.

The key to Evaluate the effectiveness of advertising is not persecution in the future company. They have heard of a hook and use the information to improve your ad spending adjustments.

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Sep 03

Direct Mail Campaign Optimization business together.

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You get piles of direct mail advertising in the mail, and where does it go after you glance at it? Into a pile of junk mail, in the trash, or on the kitchen counter where it immediately disappears as if it was sucked into the Bermuda Triangle. Unless it is very unique or has a ‘hook,’ it doesn’t receive much attention. I’m not saying that they are useless…they do produce some results…but they can do better. The key is to make the direct mail product different than all the others so people will notice it, and keep it where they can refer to it when needed.

It Takes Time

Studies indicate that people need more than one exposure to a direct mail advertisement before they will act on it. A number that is commonly tossed around in marketing circles is eight. That’s right…it often takes eight viewings before they will pick up the phone to call you or walk through your door. The answer with typical paper direct mail products is to send them out eight times or more. No problem…because you have an unlimited advertising budget. (Yeah…right.)

You Need Something Different

There is a different kind of direct mail product that doesn’t get tossed out seconds after the recipient gets it. It is a postcard mailer that has a quality refrigerator magnet attached to it. It works because people hesitate to throw out a perfectly good magnet that they got for free. The easily peel it from the postcard and look for a place to put it. Most folks open their mail in the kitchen, so it often lands on the refrigerator door. Others find their way to a computer case or a metal cupboard. Some end up at the workplace on a filing cabinet or cash register.

It Keeps On Working

Once the magnet’s home is found, family members or entire workforces see it on a daily basis. Remember that magic number ‘eight?’ Well, people are going to view it many more times than that. When your medical services are needed, they’ll recall seeing your advertisement on the magnet and call you or stop at your office. These things really work. Talk to someone who has employed a direct mail campaign using magnetic products and they’ll tell you the same thing.

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Sep 02

How to increase profits with Direct Mail Marketing – Part 1 of you.

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If you have been in business for any length of time or are even just starting for that matter, you would have heard of the advertising medium called direct mail. This medium of advertising has worked centuries and still continues to work if people know how to use it to their own benefit and advantage. Anyone with an accurate knowledge of how to work or twist this advertising medium will consistently bank in the millions of dollars while his competition still continues to send out loser mails and ads that yield nest to nothing in profits. While this is not a course in direct mail advertising, you can be sure to learn one or two new tips and tricks that will increase your conversion rate and boost your sales dramatically.

Never Underestimate the Power of Free

This worked in the past, has always worked, is still working right now and will work in the future. The only thing is you don’t want to do with something that nobody thinks is worth it. So, give out free gifts, reports, white papers, samples and all other free things you feel would have high perceived value on your potential prospects. Look at it this way, when have you been able to refuse a free sample of a new D&G perfume? Get the idea; the brand and perceived value makes the customer actually listen to what you have to say and in most cases, they will do what you want them to.

Your Copy has Got to be a killer

Listen, you get just one chance at this, one leg in the door, you either make or lose it. Pick your choice. If you copy is not that good, no one will even read its first 2 sentences. People have too much to read these days; besides they already have better sales letters than the crap you sent them. So, if you have to hire an excellent copy writer to do the gig for you, do so without second thoughts. If you have an in-house sales team capable of writing killer copies, ensure they write one or even two -for the purpose of split testing the results.

Grab Their Attention

If you fail at this, there is no remedy. Your headline has got to literally grab them by the throat and draw them in. Also, depending on the purpose of the ad, you might want to either make it long or short. This strictly depends on your marketing needs at the time. If you want a response and not sales, short copy is great. The faster you get to the point, the better. And never hesitate to give They called for drilling companies urge action to issue or may include important to focus on selling books, we know that if there is a chance to read as much as you can call to action, then they will sell or someone close. existing.

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Sep 02

Written sales: B2B Boost read

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Who do some sales letters put a smile on your face while others put a yawn in your throat?

Why are some sales letters harder to read than others?

Keeping your reader hooked right to the end of your letter is one of the hardest challenges in business-to-business direct mail lead generation. The secret is making your copy easy to read.

Entertain

Successful sales letters arouse your interest, make you laugh, intrigue you in some way or make you want to sit down with a coffee and see what the writer has to say. Without detracting from your main message and reason for writing, try to make your letters entertaining. If you want a good example of entertaining, informative writing, read the column that Herschell Gordon Lewis writes in Direct magazine. Here is a recent excerpt:

“Isn’t it comforting? The entire marketing superstructure — retailing, media advertising and online promotion — is shot through with customer elimination management.

“In the pages of this publication, over a period of years, I’ve complained (well, make that ranted) about that strange and elusive goal, customer relationship management, which through its enforcement by overpaid enforcers invariably becomes just plain customer management. Relationship? That’s up to us peons, if we can break through the “management” blockade.

“So the wobbly superstructure totters on terminology rather than relationship. Result: “relationship” disappears under the bulky mass of “management.” Voilà! Springing up in the detritus of “relationship” is reality: “elimination.”

“This was driven home to me when, responding as the yokel I am to the lure of television glamour, I ditched my trusty cell phone and replaced it with a sleek, expensive and not quite as efficient Razr V3, complete with that goofy-looking “Bluetooth” earpiece, whose name always reminds me of something that went wrong in the dentist’s office.”

Match your tone

Think your prospect’s age, job title, gender and personality type while you write. I just finished writing copy aimed at Fortune 50 bankers. The tone I employed was different from the one I use when writing to small business owners.

Avoid jargon 24/7

Unless you are certain that your reader knows what an AVM is for or why hydrodynamic lubrication starvation is a problem, leave out the jargon. In its place, use plain English that makes your point without patronizing the reader or making you sound like you are a novice to the prospect’s industry.

Go short

Make your sentences short. Like this. Prefer the short word over the long. Vary your sentence length to avoid monotony, but aim to keep them all readable in one breath. Short sentences are easier to understand.

Say it with fewer

Say it. Stop. Sign your name.

Pitch to the right person

Aim your selling message at the intelligence level of one of your typical customers. Don’t overestimate their intelligence, or underestimate it either.

Relax

Don’t throw away your Strunk and White. But don’t become its slave, either. Break the rules of grammar and Grandma’s rules to avoid sounding stiff and institutional. But use standard punctuation. And the accepted conventions for capitalization. Otherwise you’ll be perceived as a freak. Which you’re not. Right?

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Sep 02

Agency Strategic Brand.

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Hiring a firm to help you with your branding is imperative to your company’s success. Choosing the right branding agency is equally important. There are so many decisions to make and considerations so tread water lightly. Here are some things to consider when selecting a branding company.

There is one important decision you will have to make and that is developing your brand identity. It is by far the most crucial decision you will make. Your brand identity is how you want to be perceived in your market space. Any branding agency worth their salt will try and help you develop a brand identity that is targeted correctly.

If Volvo equals safety and Nike equals performance what will your company equal? This is critical. What will you stand for? What will be the soul of your company? These are then decisions your branding agency should help you with. They should recommend strategies and tactics that will help you leverage this brand identity and positioning in the marketplace.

So now you’ve made the decision that your brand identity will be to enrich the lives of your clients. Optimism is your new weapon and positioning. Take the Life is good brand; they are all about being optimistic and enriching people’s lives. They are clearly positioned and their brand identity is set in stone. You want your brand identity to be set in stone as well.

A branding agency will help you clearly position. Using other companies like ad agencies or graphic design firms might be a bad idea. You want a firm that has no motivation to sell you any one specific tactic. Ad agencies want to sell media and graphic design firms want to redesign your logo and make pretty pictures. The most important thing to consider is the strategy to leverage your branding.

Now you need to execute the strategies and tactics necessary to leverage the new positioning. What you should do is make a wish list of tactics that will help you propel your branding. Start with a list of tactics that will not only bring your branding forward but also help to create sales. Choose the best tactics with the highest return on investment. Some of these tactics may be web design, search engine optimization, advertising, direct mail and more.

So those are some of the things to consider when selecting a branding agency. Remember your brand identity is at stake so choose wisely.

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Sep 01

Direct marketing, and human factors.

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As I roamed from room to room this morning opening my curtains to another glorious day, I realized that it was going to be another one of “those” days. You know the ones I am talking about, where the mind would rather be sitting on a beach, taking a hike in the mountains or fishing on a cool inland lake instead of where it should be: working on creating an article everyone wants to talk about.

I flipped open my computer screen, took a sip of coffee and looked at the rainy scene out of my window. No inspiration there: although my garden does need a bit of work. Speaking of work, as I scan through my overnight batch of emails something catches my eye.

In an article on The Digital Nirvana guest contributor Julie Sullivan talks about her thoughts on the true meaning of direct marketing. Aha! That is something near and dear to my heart. Thank you Julie!

She wonders why marketers and advertisers only see direct mail as the advertising tool being used to describe what direct marketing is. Not to dismiss the abilities of a good direct mail campaign (I happen to think it is important) but most advertisers shudder at the thought of using direct mail. They would rather spend advertising dollars on other forms of marketing. While I will not go into the benefits of using direct mail here, I will say that marketers need to realize that all advertising effort is, in actuality, direct marketing.

As Julie states, direct marketing really has two main principles:

1. Engage in a one-to-one dialogue with your target audience

2. Require your target audience to take some sort of action-call, click, move, you name it.

Think about that for a moment. It does not matter what form it takes or what mediums are used to advertise a message, ALL advertising is direct marketing. Each message is directed to a targeted audience hoping they will take notice of the offer. Once that happens the advertising goal is to take that call-to-action. Otherwise what is the point of advertising to begin with?

Marketers and advertisers should begin to embrace the idea of direct marketing in all its forms instead of sticking their collective noses up in the air. Sorry guys but study after study proves that people want to be treated as human beings with thoughts, feelings and desires (point one above) instead of being treated as a number on a profit and loss sheet. When a business acknowledges that fact and show it, they have taken that first important step toward the ultimate goal (point two above).

Marketers spend a lot of time and money researching what draws people into noticing an advertisement. Sounds, colors, movement, social values, analytics, jingles, catch phrases et al are tested and reviewed over and over again. If there was no value in attracting the notice of the public (direct) to put across a message (marketing) then why would any organization bother to begin with?

It is time for the advertising world to stop dismissing the idea of direct marketing as something old and past its prime. Instead see it as a time tested method that will always be in demand. Unless and until technology does the thinking and purchasing for us, never forget the human factor.

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Sep 01

Precision in marketing guide postal service.

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Marketing is not just done through broad based advertising or promotional campaigns. It is also done through precision guided marketing like direct mailing promotions.

By using mailing services as a precise tool for distribution, direct mail marketing can be considered as one of the best modes of precision guided marketing for businesses. If you do not believe me, then let me give you the facts.

In this article, I will tell you how direct mail marketing can be done effectively through mailing services with great precision.

• Targeting precise marketable locations – you are allowed to target marketable locations precisely. If your market research suggests that people in a town, county or city seems to respond more to your marketing message, you can easily send marketing materials to all residential addresses to that location.

By hiring a local mailing service in that area, you can quickly send marketing tools to everybody. You do not even need to have a mailing list if you are doing marketing in a location. The local service can sometimes be relied upon to distribute those materials by hand to the area in question. You also need not pay for a list if the service already knows where to send those marketing materials of yours.

• Targeting precise individuals – you can also target precise individuals in your advertising campaign. If your market research suggests that certain demographics actually respond to your message better, then you can adjust your campaign to target only those precise individuals.

In this regard, you may want to acquire lists with specific demographic details about the people in it. By only sending to the proper demographics who will respond to your marketing, you can precisely get the customers that will give you the best profits. This kind of precision can only be done through direct mailing and you should really consider using such for your business.

• Using custom made materials to people – gives you a great opportunity to make your materials customized according your target people or market. You can basically be precise with your marketing message, make them more personally addressed to the people receiving those marketing materials. For example, you can send very different marketing materials to addresses that have male names, while other marketing materials can be sent for addresses with female names.

With this kind of precision marketing, the message can really be optimized quite well, getting you the best impact for every marketing material you create. So you can really benefit from this kind of campaign. This is how precise your marketing can get when you send your tools through mailing services. If you really want to be exact and precise with your campaign, this is the way to go. Good Luck!

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Sep 01

Direct Mail – basic tips for small business.

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Chances are, you have come across the concept of direct mail for your small business advertising needs. This is a type of marketing technique where the marketing messages are sent by the company to the buyer (without other advertisers) via direct mail. When you opt for using direct mail, you do not have to worry about spreading your message or managing the delivery to customers, the USPS does that for you. Unlike other advertising vehicles, direct mail forces the customer to handle your marketing piece and make a decision about your product or services on-the-spot.

Promoting your items

For the average small business, direct mail is a way to deliver special offers, coupons, or promotional messages to a targeted audience. For example, some common mailers feature restaurant dining discounts, free service trials, buy one get one free, and limited time discount offers.

Common Uses of Direct Marketing

Let us have a look at the uses of the direct marketing. Obviously, mailers help in exposing your products to a much larger market. It can also be used in order to test new markets for the location of stores. It also helps in preparing prospects for telephone call campaigns.

Types of Direct Mail

Targeted mailers come in many popular forms – catalogs, sales letters, brochures, menus, postcards, flyers, magnets, envelopes, tear off coupons, and much more. No matter the format, mail pieces must always be delivered to the correct audience.

Understand your target

The average small business owner must clearly understand the target market in order to launch an effective marketing campaign. What does your target audience or demographic respond best too? Consider their general likes and dislikes, views, and financial status range to better plan your offer. A good rule of thumb is that the “Customer Benefits” must be made clear and simple. So, in the direct mail piece, you should always try to focus on the benefits of your product or your services. Also, you need to ensure that you keep the offer very simple as well as easy understandable and persuasive at the same time. Another technique is to keep the offer for a limited period of time in order to encourage prospects. Do not forget to include a toll free number so Used for the purchase. Address Fax Web site e – mail, etc. must be stated clearly.

Remember that quality is one of your services directly to the response rate.

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Aug 31

If () graduation – the successful achievement of bread.

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Start creating an archive of success case studies of your company products and services. You can use them for a multitude of uses – press releases, submitted articles, literature, newsletters, presentations, website archives, etc. And when you need them there is no last minute panic. They are there to select from.

In the early 90’s there was a small direct mail company in Cleveland, Ohio. Their advertising budget was minimal, but they saw three opportunities to communicate their services to a wide audience for no or low costs: (1) Writing and distributing Press Releases, (2) Landing Presenter Roles at seminars, trade shows and conferences, and (3) Writing and distributing Case Studies of successful services.

Within two years from the start of their communications plan their advertising budget was reduced by 75% because the responses from traditional advertising vehicles was minuscule compared to the responses they received from these three avenues of communication. By using all three in sync they became known as the experts in the industry, and where once they had to pursue the editors, conference managers and other decision makers, they were now being sought out to become contributing writers and presenters at shows. They were being invited to speak at conferences and created an award-winning newsletter that simply reiterated their past case studies, presentations and press releases. This company became the teacher, and like everyone else does, their prospects went to the only source they knew who could solve their direct mail issues – the expert, the teacher!

For six years their sales grew an average of 25% a year! This despite the fact that postal rates were increasing yearly. In the late 90’s they were bought by another company. The new owners did not believe that their sales were a direct result of their current communication plans. The plans were scrapped, press releases were no longer sent, case studies were no longer written and presenter roles were no longer accepted. Two years after replacing their communications plan with traditional advertising and a focus on direct sales, they closed their doors. A dismal end to a promising start.

Of the three vehicles they used for communication their services, the Case Studies were the most versatile. Case Studies were written in a simple, consistent, Problem/Solution/Results format. They created a Case Study letterhead and envelope to distribute their information. Their list included employees, vendors, customers and prospects. Once they had written enough Case Studies to draw from, they continued to write Case Studies of new successful services while they sent one mailing of their Case Study to their current list and another series of mailings to a new list. They would determine the records on this new list by reviewing the Case Study they had written to see what other markets (by SIC code) could use these services. Then they would manually key in the top 50 companies into another database by SIC code.

They would use these Case Studies to land presenter roles, many being used verbatim as the presentations themselves. These same Case Studies were then used in the company newsletter, which won several industry awards. The concept of these Case Studies became so popular that editors not only printed the Case Studies in their entirety, many times with photos of the actual direct mail pieces, but began asking the company to be a contributing writer for their publications.

It’s time consuming work to prepare for. The designing and printing of the letterhead and envelopes, gathering of the lists, distribution… but the payoff was incredible. There is no was to determine which of the three vehicles mentioned above played the largest role, but writing and distributing the Case Studies was a significant factor in their success. This is a sample of a Case Study in the same format they created. Follow THIS format and learn from their eventual mistake – don’t stop using what works!

Creative Postcards – A Case Study

PROBLEM:

The (NAME) sub shop in (CITY, STATE) relied almost entirely on drive by traffic… until their street and the intersection closest to them were placed under construction. This forced traffic detours and reduced business dramatically. They need a cost-effective way to increase store traffic.

SOLUTION:

(NAME OF SERVICE BUREAU) designed a 4″x6″ full-color promotional postcard.

Side 1 contained a colorful cartoon map with icon landmarks, shop log and location, and contact information. Side 2 contained the mailing address and a coupon which needed to be redeemed for receivers to take advantage of the coupon.

RESULTS:

Within the first 30 days, 6% of receivers had phone the shop asking for menu faxes; 18% redeemed the coupons; 8% of coupon redeemers had returned for repeat purchases without a coupon. How did they know about the repeat business? Because unlike other forms of coupon distribution, the postcards contained the names of the receivers because the postcard WAS the coupon – and the directions to the shop. They used this information to build a database of customers for future promotions.

Customers frequently mentioned the look of the map as the reason they did not discard it as “junk” mail. The (NAME OF MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM) was so impressed they agreed to let the sub shop use their corporate logo as a landmark for future mailings at no cost.

Several nearby stores are creating a version of the map with each store being a landmark and the coupon being valid for any of the stores on the map. (End of Case Study)

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