Archive for October, 2006

Increase Repeat Business and Referrals with Direct Mail

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

So you have been writing mortgages like crazy now for the last few years. You have a pretty big database of customers and hopefully you have been getting and keeping full contact information for them.

An organized database is the first key to customer retention.

The next step is to put together a direct mail campaign to keep these customers thinking about you when they think about mortgages. It is often years between times when each customer needs a mortgage

professional, and it takes far less than that for them to forget your name. As well as fighting time, you are fighting indifference. Customers who get great service are often reluctant to pass that information along, while customers who feel they have gotten poor service will tell everyone. Most of the time good customers need to be reminded of their

experience. By following up with each customer on a regular basis you

will not only stay in the front of their mind but you will also start to

build a reputation as a solid and responsible business.

So how do you get started?

Below are a couple of the most frequently asked questions when starting a campaign to keep in touch with past clients.

What Type of Direct Mail Piece Works Best?

There is a great debate amongst Mortgage Professionals about what type of direct mail will work best for getting new business. Many swear by letters for their appearance of professionalism, while others like the low cost and high visibility of postcards. Overall, both seem to work adequately for bringing in new business. You just need to find which

works best for you personally.

For keeping in contact with past customers, however, the way to go is

postcards. This is due to the fact that if your customers are not currently looking for a mortgage for themselves, they are far less likely to take the time to open a letter. That causes most of your “keep

in touch” promo that is in envelopes to get thrown out before it ever gets read.

Since the goal is recognition and not direct action you only need to get

them to read the message. Postcards have the message visible when mailed, which means that while your customers are deciding what to read and what to throw out, they are already being exposed to your message.

How Often Should I Send Promo?

You will want to mail a piece to your database every 30-60 days. Any longer than that and they may have already forgotten you when their friends are looking for a mortgage. Since you will want to send promo out often, you will need to keep your costs down. With postcards there

are no envelope costs, no assembly costs and the postage is 30% less than letters. When using a mail house to send your postcards you can often get postage rates as low as 18¢ per piece.

What Should Be On My Brand Recognition Pieces?

There are some basic rules for the design of a brand recognition direct

mail piece.

Rule #1: Keep color consistent.

Many times people fall into the trap of changing the look of their promo

for the seasons or for the holidays. The thought is that people are thinking about Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day so they will respond better to promo with those colors. The truth is exactly opposite. Their senses are so flooded by those images that they actually start to skip

right over them. Pick a color for your company and stick with it. You will do much better in building recognition.

Rule #2: Make a logo and use it on every piece.

Having a clean, professional logo is best. It may be a little pricey to have designed but in the end it is well worth the money. Experienced designers can often charge up to $2000 for a corporate identity package

including logo, letterhead and business cards. If you aren’t looking to make that type of investment simply pick a type style for your company name and use it every time. Consistency is key because your logo is your main identification point.

Rule #3: Make it Informative.

Every piece should have something useful for your customers. Whether it is new information about the mortgage industry or even possible investment properties in their area, it can even be completely unrelated to the mortgage industry. A calendar or list of emergency numbers, even the old recipe card trick still works pretty well. Anything that is likely to be kept around will help to build recognition in the minds of your past customers.

The mortgage industry has experienced a huge amount of growth over the past few years. Unfortunately this growth cannot last forever. At some point it is going slow down and the only way to keep your income in the range that you have become accustomed to is to ensure that you retain as many past customers as you possibly can.

A direct mail campaign is the best way to do this, but remember, this type of program is a long term process. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t directly calculate the amount of money that you bring in right off the bat. What you are doing is burning your name into the minds of your customers. Eventually it will work out to you seeing less attrition and

far more referrals.

–About–

Joe Niewierski, the VP of Marketing & Promotion at PostcardMania, became a published writer after graduating with a BA in Advertising from the University of South Florida. Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com

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The Seven Vital Steps You Must Know To Ensure Direct Mail Success

Monday, October 16th, 2006

1. Your Most Valuable Asset

A mailing list of valued customers is the single most important asset you have. Loyal customers will spend an average of five times more in your business than new customers. Plus it costs ten times more to acquire a new customer.

When choosing a mailing list, first identify your best customer. What is their age, income level, and geography?

Then identify your “perfect” customer. Select mailing lists which match your perfect customer profile.

If you’re selling business to business, select the type of business, number of employees and geography, then tailor your message to this audience.

2. The Three Most Effective Words

Copy is the persuasive argument that sells your product or service. Begin your copy with a strong headline that spells out the benefit of your product or service.

The three most effective words in direct mail are “you,” “free,” and “new.” Studies show that using these words in headlines can boost your response dramatically.

Letter copy should follow a simple formula that will help you organize your thoughts and make a convincing sales argument.

A. Attention: The headline must grab their attention and make them want to read further.

B. Interest: Grab their interest with a sub-headline that states your Unique Selling Proposition (what sets you apart from everyone else.)

C. Desire: Elicit desire by painting word pictures of your prospect using your product or service and enjoying its benefits. Give testimonials of customers who have benefited from what you offer. Tell stories of people who used your service despite their initial apprehension.

D. Close: Ask for the order. Make it convenient for them to respond. Give your prospects choices of how to get in touch with you. Use a P.S. at the end of the letter to pique their curiosity.

3. What’s In It For Me?

Your offer attracts people to your business or service. Direct mail will not work if you use it like a billboard. It is like saying, “SEE ME, I’M OVER HERE” at 60 m.p.h. In order for your direct mail to achieve measurable results you must have a compelling offer.

Your offer can include money, free gifts, guarantees, testimonials, sale events, coupons, gift certificates, sweepstakes, drawings and private sales.

Test different offers and see what works best for you.

When you’re marketing to a business, personalization is important. Make your outside envelope look like a personal business letter. Keep your copy to 1 or 2 pages and offer an incentive for responding quickly..

4. Experience Captivating Graphics

Designing a mail piece should accomplish 2 things. One is to get the attention of your reader. Two, is to visually clarify the written message you are trying to get across.

There are six elements that determine good direct mail design.

A. One visual element should dominate the page, whether it’s a photo, headline, cartoon or graphic.

B. Use only one or two typefaces. Stick with one or two families of type. Use one for the headlines and bolded sub sections and one for the body copy. The body copy should always be a serif typeface, it’s easier to read.

C. Use lots of white space when you want to make a lasting impression.

D. Make sure your text is easy to read. Don’t make your margins too wide or your columns too long. Space out the lines of your text so they are easy to read. Use bullets, bold, underlines and short paragraphs.

E. Display your logo and pertinent contact information.

5. Produce the Package

Have you ever read an ad or received a mailing without a phone number or address? Often people get so wrapped up in the copy they forget to call for action. Boldly feature your phone number, address, web site address, email address and fax. Make it easy for your prospects to contact you.

Your logo should visually express the essence of your company’s mission along with a positioning statement that sets you apart from your competition. Design a “risk-free” response certificate that clearly repeats your most valuable benefits and moves your reader to say “yes.”

6. Testing

The standard business-to-business mailing package includes an outside envelope, letter, brochure, lift letter and response device.

The benefit of direct mail is that you have an unlimited number of choices when it comes to your package. You can choose the paper, ink color and size of the package. Or you might choose a postcard, self mailer, flyer or 3D package which is almost guaranteed to get opened.

7. Follow Up

The three most important elements to test are the list, offer and package. Studies show the quality of your mailing list represents 40% – 70% of your mailing success.

First, carefully select your list, keep your offer the same and test one list against another; either two rented lists or your customer list against a rented list.

Then, test your offers. Keep your list the same and change your offer. A one word change in a headline can boost your response over 300%. Test discounts, free gifts, free samples, personalized coaching or free reports.

Third, test the creative. Colors create moods and can affect response. Test a humorous approach vs. a serious approach. Test photos vs. clip art, ink colors, paper colors, envelope design. Test a postcard vs. a letter. What about a teaser on the envelope vs. a blank envelope? All these variables can affect your response and should be tested.

It’s useless to have a powerful measurable tool like direct mail and not evaluate whether it’s working. Keep tr

–About–

Allan is the Loyalty Coach at http://www.loyaltycoach.comand the Marketing Director of http://www.DriveThruPrintingAndMailing.com,a full service, web based Direct Mail Advertising and Printing Company, in Memphis, Tennessee specializing in 4 color printing of direct mail postcards, brochures, newsletters and flyers.

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What is Telemarketing

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

Heard about telemarketing? I bet you do. Telemarketing is an age old marketing practice that is commonly used by most companies or businesses which have a planned approach to marketing products with the aim to generate a higher volume of sales from the services. To put it simply, the term “telemarketing” refers to a way that businesses can advertise their products and offer their services.

The Basics

There are a number of operations involve in telemarketing. Most of the companies offering this kind of service often employ professional telemarketers or call centers to make telephone calls or send faxes to the potential customers on their behalf, hence the name. However, in order to obtain a list of the potential customers, the company usually purchases telemarketing lists which are available with vendors based on a preset condition or requirement. After this, if you are the one running the telemarketing business, you can have your staff or third party companies call these contacts in order to generate the so-called “telemarketing leads”.

There is another thing that is common in the telemarketing field, that is, a “dead air” or “hang up”. Well, this is actually the situation in which you may receive a telephone call where no one is on the other end. It can be annoying and frightening on the part of the customer. But, understand that these calls are often the result of something called “predictive dialing”. Many of the telemarketing organizations these days employ automatic dialers to place telephone calls or send faxes. Thus, a dead air or hang up call often occurs, especially if the representative of the business is not available when the call is answered. It is further worth noting though that companies generally allow sufficient time between calls for a representative to be available. But, there are some instances, especially when the representative is on another line longer than expected, that the result of the operation is the so-called “dead air”.

Main Categories of Telemarketing

There are two major categories involved in a telemarketing business. The first is Business-to-Business, and the second is Business-to-Consumer.

•Business-to-Business – This actually refers to the operation in which the company tries to look for other companies interested in high quality business to business calling in sales, appointment setting, lead generation, customer service, and even technical support.
•Business-to-Consumer – Like the call center programs, business to consumer telemarketing needs the special service capabilities as well as considerations. One thing to note when it comes to this kind of operation is the recent “do not call” legislation which requires that your call center must be very vigilant about the lists they use for their business to consumer programs. There are, however, some companies out there that accept business to consumer programs simply to extend their calling hours.

Note that within these two categories of telemarketing are two broad divisions: the lead generations, where the main purpose is to obtain information; and sales, where the main object is to obtain someone to buy something. All of these operations are usually done by professional telemarketers.

More information available at http://www.marketing-00.info

–About–
Joel Dresse is the Webmaster of http://www.marketing-00.info, an informative website.

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A Consumer Alert – Deceptive Telemarketing of Copier and Printer supplies is on the rise.

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

Telemarketers engaging in fraudulent or high pressure sales tactics have become a problem within the industry, and it is a problem that TonerMonkey would like the consumer to have all the facts about. How serious is it? The Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Better Business Bureaus nationwide have judged the problem serious enough to issue warnings about so called “toner pirates” and “toner phoners” practices, and in some cases, investigations have led to lawsuits and FBI raids against deceptive telemarketing companies.

TonerMonkey.com main concern is for the consumer who is just looking to get a fair deal on copier and printer supplies. Even though deceptive telemarketers say that the prices they offer are exceptionally low, in fact the opposite is usually true; the prices are often grossly inflated.

Here’s what to watch for ( 1 ) The caller tries to avoid giving their phone number. ( 2 ) The sales pitch is high pressure, with a time element – if you don’t act now the special price being offered will end. ( 3 ) These operations often get information about your equipment by pretending to be a Customer Service representative making a customer satisfaction survey. Once they know the machines you are using a salesman will call back with the pitch tailored to your specific equipment.

Here’s What to do:

( 1 ) Always get information about any salesperson calling whom you are not familiar with including; company name, phone number, address, etc. Most deceptive telemarketers will not give out such information and just hang up.

( 2 ) Get the offer in writing including all carton contents and compare prices with TonerMonkey.com before you buy.

( 3 ) Establish an office policy that you do not give out the information on your equipment to a person calling regardless if they are from the store where you purchased the equipment from or not. Designate one person that is in charge of the equipment and supplies for your company.

( 4 ) Establish a policy for receiving deliveries from UPS, FedEx and other deliveries to count individual items of value when they are delivered not just the number of boxes.

( 5 ) If you come in contact with one of these deceptive telemarketers, report it to the Federal Trade Commission, the Postal Service or your local Better Business Bureau.

These deceptive telemarketing companies operate is such a way that it is hard for the consumer to recognize the inflated prices. The most common practice is to use what the industry calls “short cartons”. A short carton may contain only half the number of toner cartridges that a standard carton from the manufacture would contain.

Example: Canon NP 1200 toner NPG-1 contains 4 cartridges to a carton and sells on our site for $ 49.95 and a Canon Suggested Retail Price on this product is $ 88.00 but these telemarketers will sell a carton of 2 cartridges for $ 80.00 claiming you save $ 8.00 a carton; but the special ends today. So if you want to get the bargain, you must act now !!!

This is how they catch the consumer off guard. Because they know that if they ship the product to a medium sized company . . . Joe in the warehouse will receive the product and sign for 5 cartons when UPS or FedEx Delivers. But Maryann in accounts payable gets an invoice for the 5 cartons of toner which matches what Joe in the warehouse received but since these cartons are short compared to Canon’s packaging there is no way for Maryann to know that the cartons are short. She goes a head and pays the invoice from the telemarketing firm.

In fact the cost of the toner becomes $ 44.00 per cartridge compared to $ 49.95 for a carton of 4 on our web site at www.TonerMonkey.com. Now that’s $ 176.00 per carton. That is $ 126.05 higher than our price and that’s really being nice. Many of these companies actually go way beyond that inflating the price by several hundred percent of what the product normally sells for.

If you wish to submit a report of your experience, you may submit a complaint through the Better Business Bureau or writer to one of the following agencies to report your experience.

United States Postal Service PO BOX 4140 Burbank, CA 91503

Federal Trade Commission – Division of Marketing Practices 6th Street and Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington D.C. 20580

( 1 ) Remember always get the telephone number of the person your talking to and address, if possible. If you have caller ID and the phone number is blocked tell the caller to hang up and redial once they have removed the block off of their phone number.

( 2 ) Get the offer in writing on their company letterhead including cost of shipping and handling, contents of each carton and Brand names of the products. Be careful of phrases on the quote like “for use in” or “compatible with” because these phrases indicate a generic product.

TonerMonkey.com hopes these tips will stop these fraudulent telemarketers in their tracks and saves you the consumer a ton of banana’s not to mention all the headaches

–About–
Lee Alexander
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10 Steps to Success in Direct Marketing

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

The Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for even the smallest home-based business owner. There are countless numbers of new self-made millionaires that achieved their newfound success on the Internet. These new millionaires are no different from you and I. They started their Internet businesses from the ground up, found a niche and built their success one day at a time.

“Can I really make money on the Internet?” The fact of the matter is that you really can make money on the Internet –a lot of money. You simply must take the necessary steps to make it happen. You must have a sincere desire to succeed and the attitude for success.

If you are sincerely passionate about your success, you will succeed — it’s that simple.

The true secret to creating a successful Internet business, is pure determination. Most people fail just at the moment they are about to succeed. Why? — Because they give up. They lack the true passion that it takes to succeed. As long as you keep trying, you’ll never fail.

Below, is list of what I feel are the most important ingredients for Internet success:

Sincere Passion

In order to be successful, you must be completely passionate about your business and your success. If you don’t have a “sincere” passion, you won’t have the necessary personal drive that it takes to succeed.

Your Own Domain (www.yourdomain.com)

Businesses hosted on a free server are not taken seriously and are generally considered to be unprofessional. If a company doesn’t care enough about its business to get its own domain name, potential customers may not feel comfortable doing business with them. A company with its own domain name and a professional looking website will have a much higher rate of success when compared with most business sites hosted on free servers.

Professional Website

Your website is a direct reflection of you and your business. Creating a professional website designed to sell will take a great deal of time and effort, as there is much more to take into consideration than design. You must look at a much broader picture and specifically design your website to sell.

Quality Content

In order to create a steady stream of traffic to your website, you must give your visitors a reason to visit and continue to visit in the future. You must provide your visitors with fresh content on a continual basis.

Targeted Traffic

No matter how great your website is, unless you’re receiving quality, targeted traffic, it will be useless. Your website may receive hundreds of visitors each day. However, if they aren’t interested in the products or services you’re offering, your web traffic won’t mean a thing. You must drive a continuous stream of targeted traffic to your website.

Opt-in List (Ezine)

Having your own publication is an absolute essential part of your success. They not only provide you with a direct line of communication with potential customers and enable you to promote your products or services, but they also build credibility.

Your Own In-Demand Product

Although marketing affiliate programs can provide you with a nice income, true Internet profits come from marketing your own in-demand product.

Killer Sales Copy

Your words are the entire foundation of your business. Your product, website and marketing strategies all depend upon your words. You must learn how to write persuasive words specifically written for your targeted customer. You must feel your customers needs and write your copy with passion, excitement and benefit.

Killer Marketing Strategy

Developing a successful marketing strategy is an essential part of your online success. In order to succeed, you must develop and implement a strategic plan that includes all of the following:

- A great product – A website specifically designed to sell – A killer marketing strategy

Each step plays an important role in your overall strategy and must be developed to its fullest potential. If even one step fails, your chances of success will be minimal.

Instant Product Delivery (downloadable, instant access, etc.)

Internet users are starving for information, as that is what the Internet is all about. They have a sincere desire to learn and want the information they desire right now.

The best products to sell on the Internet are those that can be instantly delivered over the Internet.

Accept Credit Cards

If you’re doing business on the Internet, accepting credit cards is an absolute must. You must provide your visitors with an easy online ordering process and the ability to pay for their order right online.

Credibility

As an Internet entrepreneur, it is your personal responsibility to ensure that your visitors feel very comfortable with you and your website. In order to gain your visitors’ trust and confidence, you must build your credibility.

Your attitude is the MOST important factor in determining your success. You MUST think positively and be willing to tackle any obstacle that comes along. The fact is, you CAN do whatever you put your mind to. You simply have to believe you can and believe in yourself above all else.

–About–

About the Author: Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.comAnd, Ebook Starter – Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.comVisit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, “Killer Internet Marketing Strategies.” http://www.web-source.net

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These Four Things Will Make Your Direct Marketing Successful

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

These Four Things Will Make Your Direct Marketing Successful

2005 Al Lautenslager

Direct marketing is built on four things. The other way to look at it is that when you think direct marketing is not working only one of four things can be wrong. Let?s look at each.

1.The Target ? This is who you are sending your marketing to. The target is your list and the list is your market. These are the people most interested in what you have to say, what you have to offer and what you have to sell. These are interested prospects, hopefully, that will want what you have to sell. If this group does not want or need what you have then your target needs changed. Your target does not represent your market in this case.

When working with list brokers, you can specify what your ideal target, ideal client or market should be. This is where most people think of demographics. How big a company is, what the income is or sales level is, where they are located, their age, their family size, etc. All of this defines your target and the tighter the definition of your target, the higher the probability of success.

TO-DO: Write out the description of your ideal client. Contact list brokers and see how many of these there are. Make sure to specify geographical areas. Determine the cost of such a list. Buy the list and start mailing to it over and over and over on a frequent, consistent basis.

2.The Vehicle ? This is what you are sending to your list. In the world of direct mail its pretty simple: A letter, A postcard, A catalog or a three dimensional package. Professional companies like letters. People that are on the run, multi-tasker entrepreneurs may prefer postcards. C-level officers buying high ticket items may prefer a package. Consider this when determining your direct marketing campaign budget and base it on what you think your target market will want.

3.The Message ? This component of direct marketing is what you are saying to your market; to your audience; to your list. This is also where you develop and communicate the offer that you are seeking a response to. Your job with the message is to communicate benefit oriented information and advantages that will motivate the prospect to take some type of action. The action might be a sale, a phone call, a visit or a web-site visit.

Think of a coupon. That is a response mechanism. The prospect sees the value and product offering on the coupon and visits a place of business and redeems it, all conforming to benefit communication and motivation to action.

4.Frequency ? So many times people try direct marketing and give up because of low response. They typically give up before giving the campaign enough time to work. We are inundated with marketing messages everyday, therefore it takes repetition and consistency of delivering that message to match up with timing and desire to the point where the prospect will take action.

The rule of thumb is 6-8 times will create the top of mind awareness in the mind of your prospect so that they think of you, your product or service when their need or want arises.

–About–

Get a free 7 step PR plan by sending a blank email to prplan@market-for-profits.com or get a report on how to instantly add 50 people to your network by going to http://www.market-for-profits.com. Also visit www.directmailmarketingsuccess.comfor over 300 tips, techniques and tactics on direct mail. Al Lautenslager is a speaker, author, business owner, consultant, a certified guerrilla marketing coach who helps businesses and professionals increase their revenue through focused marketing and an increased client base. He is the bestselling co-author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days and a featured business coach for entrepreneur.com He can be contacted through his website, http://www.market-for-profits.com

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