By combining direct marketing software with personal URL, you can definitely give your business the push that will propel your it to new heights. Most businesses use direct mail campaigns to widen the range of their customers and usually these direct mail campaigns lead all the recipients to the same company website. This is simply not enough to spur the recipients to take action and buy your products.
Today, the audience around the world is proficient in handling the Internet. Inviting them to the same company website is not going to generate a lot of interest. Personalized URLs (PURLs) are an excellent means to entice people into buying your products. A Personalized URL refers to a web address that bears the name of the recipient. You can incorporate personalized URLs in your direct mail campaigns to increase your chances of getting prospective clients.
You can include PURLs as one of the channels for recipients to respond. For each PURL you can allot targeted VIP landing pages or personalized pages. These dynamic landing pages convey exactly what the recipient wanted to know. This way, the recipient of the direct email is certainly going to show more interest and he is going stay in that web page for longer periods of time. Thus, you can make the recipient aware of all the things about your business that you intended to. Personal URLs help you to attract the audience. It will supply leads and prospects to your business that you need in the down economy.
This will help you in a great way when it comes to increasing the customer base of your business. You can project the sales of your business much better and know what potential customers are looking for when they stay on your business websites. You can understand the general behavioural patterns of customers. This will enable you to modify your website to suit the needs of the visitors. Performing such a customization will allow the visitors to find what they are searching for quite easily and this increases the chance of these visitors becoming your clients.
PURLs, or personal websites, are microsites used to capture direct mail or email campaign responses. Each PURL is customized with text, images, voice or animated technology with information and incentives specifically targeted for each person’s needs or interests.
Studies show using PURLs with a pertinent and significant message increases response rates two to five times! PURLs are exceptionally affordable and hundreds or thousands of customized PURLs can be created in seconds, based on your customer database or target mailing list.
What many businesses have encountered using PURL technology:
55-60% response rates
$122 ROI per $1 spent on marketing
Hundreds of new leads from one marketing campaign
One simple line added at the end of your direct mail or email campaign can achieve the following:
Increase response rates
Customize interactive marketing efforts spontaneously
Gain valuable information about consumers
Convert more prospects into sales and loyal customers
Manage customer relationships effortlessly
Send qualified, real-time leads to sales
Track and measure campaign responses in real-time
Learn how you can add easily add a PURL to your next marketing campaign by emailing us for more information.
Referrals are a lifeline of a lot of businesses but like me be honest for a minute - majority of business are stupid when it comes to referrals.
You ask for a referral after you sell a product or complete a service and you never ask the client again. We are pounded with so many marketing messages everyday we forget the name/number of your business 5 minutes we walk out of your store. Here is a little tip to increase your referrals.
Create a buzz around your product. People will naturally spread the word about your product or service if it is “cool”. You will be able to create that buzz with our software PurlBlitz since everything is personalized. Your prospect will ask you “How did you do that?” when a personalized audio message automatically plays when they visit their personalized landing page. They will want to spread the word about your marketing message to their friends even if you don’t have a formalized referral program. As mentioned in other posts you need to personalize emails by having people fill out a survey and use that information in future emails. People are quick to forget that they filled out a survey and 60 days later when they receive an email from you that mentions something from that survey they will be very impressed you are able to remember so many things about the client. If you want to see what I am talking about go to this website
www.personalizemarketing.com/survey.html - notice how the information is personalized and I am “Smart” by instantly sending you a personalized email (I have people working night and day creating these emails….just kidding)
You should be doing marketing research for your business relatively frequently to stay updated on changes in your industry. For this particular post I am going to focus on marketing research relating to “marketing strategies to get new business”.
Small businesses are so focused on running their business they are not staying updated on the new trends in the marketplace. One of these trends is to create a connection with your clients and make them feel like they are desired and will be taken care of when they become a client. With the internet it is very easy to create distance between yourself and cilents because most of your clients never see your face or meet you in person. One way to create a sense of trust is to learn as much as you can about your clients by providing surveys. Once you collect that information use it in the future in all emails and marketing messages.
Here is an example. Let’s say I sell air conditioners and I am emailing a prospect about getting an AC installed before the summer and I am using an Autoresponder.
Traditional Format
Hey Bob,
I am sure you are enjoying your new house and hopefully the weather is allowing you time to get the things done around the house like you had hoped. As you know we are offering a special on Air Conditioner installs for newer houses. Visit www.myhvac.com to get more information.
Personal Email (this is easy to do - just ask me how)
Hey Bob,
I am sure you are enjoying your new house. Man has it really been 6 months since it was built? Hopefully you are finding time to complete your basement and landscape your backyard. As you know we are offering a 10% discount on AC installs so please visit myhvac.com/bob.smith.html
The bolded words are all personalized information you collected during the survey. Whic email do you think will have a better response?
If you want to increase your response rates on all of your marketing then do Market Research about what your prospects want and need
Most small businesses are looking for ways to get new customers and reactivate existing customers but are too busy to learn new marketing strategies.
1) Write a blog - most businesses should have a blog that is updated regularly so clients can keep updated on your business. People will bookmark or subscribe to your RSS feed and “by magic” stay updated on changes with your industry and business. If you don’t know how to install a blog comment below and I can help you out - it is VERY easy.
2) Pay Per Click - this is a very effective marketing strategy but if done incorrectly can cost you a lot of money with very little results. Search the internet and learn all that you can about PPC. Pick up the book “Adwords for Dummies” as it is an easy read with good tips and tricks.
3) Postcard Marketing the right way - it amazes me how I get the same postcard in the mail over and over from the same business. They don’t test different headlines, formats, colors, etc but expect good response rates. There is something to be said about branding but you can still brand your business but change up the postcards. We highly recommend to people to personalize each postcard to the client (not just a generic postcard for everyone). Variable Data Printers allow you to print personalized message on each postcard and the cost is not much more then sending out 1000 generic postcards. We recommend PrintsMadeEasy
Their customer service is excellend (I don’t say that about too many companies anymore), pricing is great and quality is superior.
Direct Mail Postcards are not dead. In fact I am seeing increased response rates if done correctly. People get so much email they tend to delete majority of it.
Here are 3 ways to Increase your Direct Mail Response rates:
1) Design/Test/Design/Test your Headline. This is the most important aspect of the postcard. I would either include the name of the recipient or name of the company you are sending to in the Headline. Your headline should be interesting and spark some type of interest for the recipient. You need to use a Variable Data Printer to personalize each postcard. The best one I have found is PrintsMadeEasy.com
2) Buy a good mailing lists. There are thousands of companies that claim to have a good list. The more you know about your list the better you can personalize each message to the recipient. For example if you included age as one of the data fields you could design postcards that are targeted to that age group.
3) Target your message to one product or service. You may have many different products or service to sell but send a targeted marketing message so you can keep the recipient focused on what you are trying to sell. Too many times companies send out generic postcards and expect a high response rates. You can always drive people to a PURL landing page and mention your other products.
Our PurlBlitz software that will be released very soon will help your direct mail response rates especially direct mail postcards. Create thousands of personalized landing pages instantly.
