Creating a Culture of Communication in Marketing: Part I
November 20, 2008 by OneIMS · Leave a Comment
Your business, solutions and products are constantly being marketed even when you might not intentionally be trying to “make a sale”. Over the next few blogs, we’d like to take some time to comment on current communication trends, as well as suggest efficient communication techniques to enhance and solidify your marketing relationships.
Rather than having random methods of communication, creating a culture of communication will provide more effective results. Remember, successful marketing begins with you as a business owner. As first impressions do matter (despite what you might have heard), it’s imperative to maintain client-centered communication at all times.
Being client-centered includes any form of contact you have via e-mail, phone, in-person (face-to-face), and by means of company mail-outs, e-newsletters, text messages, etc. Here are a few basics to keep in mind:
Phone
- Note your tone of voice (especially when switching between clients).
- Be prompt when returning calls and messages.
- Reduce background noise!
- Stay attentive, especially when multi-tasking (people can tell if you’re chomping on food or clicking away on the computer).
E-mails
- Note tone of writing, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
- A note to those who can’t seem to tear themselves away from their Blackberrys and other web-ready phones; tired thumbs and mini keypads don’t excuse you from writing legibly!
- Elect to set a response window (i.e., Will respond within 24-48 hrs, etc.) so customers don’t expect you to respond as soon as they click “send” on their end. This gives you time to respond and assures them they haven’t been forgotten.
Stay tuned for techniques on communicating in challenging economic times.
Please contact OneIMS today at 1-888-ONE-IMS1, or send an e-mail to info@oneims.com and let us offer you additional, effective communication suggestions.
Database Management - Increasing the effectiveness of VDP
November 18, 2008 by OneIMS · Leave a Comment
A long-held truth amongst marketing professionals is that an accurate, clean, well-populated database of client info is key to connecting with your customers. This is especially true when it comes to utilizing variable data printing and personalized URL marketing. If you are looking at VDP and PURL you already know that every customer is different and you want to find a way to tailor your sales pitch as much as you can (we have explored in previous posts just how beneficial this area of marketing is). Database management will greatly increase the effectiveness of your project.
There are many creative ways to get customers to provide you with information - questionnaires combined with discount programs being the most obvious. But just as important as getting the data in the first place is keeping it clean, well-organized and understood. There are a myriad of behemoth databases out there (some belonging to top Fortune 500 companies) that sit semi-dormant because they are badly organized and the companies do not know how to mine the information. That results in sloppy marketing projects that don’t connect to the customer base in any sort of personal way.
Some keys to keeping your database well managed are:
- l dealing with data duplication (making sure the same information is not recurring in multiple places)
- l data formatting (good data is regularly lost in a database when it is not formatted correctly)
- l data accuracy (there are many publicly accessible databases - run by the postal service, among others - that can be used to keep the customer data you maintain fresh and correct)
There are other steps you can take to ensure the integrity of your data. Here at OneIMS we are able to provide you with an impressive stable of services. We believe that your marketing budget will be far better spent when your database is accurate, clean and well-populated.
For more information please go to www.oneimsdatagroup.com or www.oneims.com
PURL (Personalized URL) Increases Revenue
November 17, 2008 by OneIMS · Leave a Comment
The Taser Inc. case finally gives us evidence.
The theory of using a personalized web page to grab a potential customer’s attention is a good one, but where are the figures to back this up? Personalized URL is certainly an exciting new addition to marketing strategy. Never before have marketers been able to connect with their customer base in such a personal way. There is a widely-held belief that VDP (Variable Data Printing) and PURL greatly increase response rates in campaigns and drive down the cost of each new marketing lead. Until now, however, there has been a paucity of numbers and evidence to show marketers just how good PURL is at boosting leads. The experience of one company is going some way to proving the theory.
Taser International (yes, that Taser - the makers of non-lethal immobilization devices) has seen a revenue growth in excess of 1600% since 2002, when it decided to focus much of its marketing drive on one-to-one strategies. Prior to 2002, Taser were relying heavily on general statistics that seemed stale and impersonal to their prospective buyers. So they made a switch and using a database of information they had on those potential customers (mainly law enforcement agencies - local and national), they developed a return-on-investment calculator and sent out postcards with personalized savings and return info to each customer. In this case return included statistics such as expected lives saved and officer injuries avoided over a 10 year period.
In 2006, Taser got creative an introduced PURL in to their marketing mix. The postcards sent out were now driving customers to a personalized landing web page which had Taser’s own return-on-investment calculator built in. The customers were able to adjust the inputs to the calculator according to their own department numbers and see for themselves an accurate estimate of savings and return. They combined this with an aggressive sales rep campaign (assigning a rep - and contact info - to each agency). After the customer logged off the website, the software generated an email to the customer containing a fully tailored quote, created a personalized brochure for the customer, and generated a customized power point presentation for the sales rep assigned to the agency. All the information gathered served as powerful research data for further improvement on marketing strategies.
So what about figures? Taser’s success since 2002 has been dizzying. Prior to 2002, less than 1400 law enforcement departments in the US used Taser. In 2007 that number was up to 9500 (more than half of major law departments). Their annual revenue grew from $6m in ‘02 to $67.7m in ‘06 and $100.7 in ‘07 after the introduction of PURL. In the first quarter of 2008 Taser revenues were $22.5m, a 47% increase over the same quarter in 2007. Given that there were a number of elements to this success, it is preposterous to assign all the credit to one-to-one marketing and PURL. Taser, however, attest that these innovative marketing strategies have been a major contributor to their growth.
Taser have also provided research data on the average cost per lead of their main marketing approaches. Cross-media PURL marketing has shown to be far cheaper per lead and far more effective at driving up revenue compared to traditional print advertising.
