Where Are All These Customers Coming From? September 28, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in : analysis, lists , add a commentThat phrase conjures up the idea of too many customers for most people. But that’s not what I’m going to write about here. I’m thinking more about the idea of knowing who your customers are and, specifically, where they live or work (depending on whether they are businesses or consumers).
If your product or service is easily distributed nationally, you can probably skip the rest of this article. The rest of you, however, should stick around.
Spending a bit of time and money now to clean up your customer list can save you thousands of dollars in lost marketing efforts. Your customer list is just too important to have incomplete or inaccurate information.
Getting your list of customers plotted on a map can help you visualize the geographic area where you should focus your marketing. Buying an ad or a mailing list that covers the entire state doesn’t make much sense if 90% of your customers come from the 5 surrounding towns.
Once you know where your existing customers are coming from, it’s a pretty safe bet that most of your new customers will be from the same areas, as well. Why spend money trying to recruit customers from 3 counties away?
This, of course, is where direct marketing really outshines the mass media. Radio, TV and even local newspapers have a hard time targeting pinpoint geographic areas. Direct mail lists, on the other hand, can generally zoom in on just certain roads in a town and even which side of the street. Again, if you’re selling basement waterproofing, you’ll likely find that your customers aren’t from the houses on top of the hill.
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Stop Complicating Your Communications September 27, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in : content/copy , add a commentSee if you can figure out what this means:
Lessor shall be entitled at its absolute discretion to vary the proportion of the Service Costs payable by the Lessee as defined in clause 1(n) in the event of rights being granted pursuant to the terms of paragraph 5 of the Fifth Schedule hereto Provided that such variation shall not result in the said Service Charge proportion being increased
Even if you understand it, would you read it if you didn’t have to? Of course not. While this is an extreme example, many marketers continue to use similar language to:
- Sound intelligent
- Be grammatically correct
And…possibly the worst reason of all…
- To make an inferior product, service or idea sound better (we all know by now that good marketing starts with a good product, right?)
Matt at 37signals has some great thoughts on this:
Einstein’s scientific writing may be tough for the layman to understand. But it’s interesting to note how he could tone down his ideas for mass consumption too. He often used simple words that both physicists and regular people could understand.
Keep the language used in your copy to an 8th- or even 6th-grade reading level. Not because your prospects are stupid, but because your job is to get the desired reaction—a sale, an inquiry, an understanding of your idea—with the least work on the part of the person you’re communicating with.
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Credit Card and Loan “Junk Mail” Under Fire September 25, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in : case studies, news , 1 comment so farUnsolicited credit offers are irking politicians in the UK, some of whom are calling for increased regulation. Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said: “Junk mail selling washing powder is irritating and wasteful. But junk mail that encourages people to make decisions that can lead to losing their houses is altogether more serious.”
From this article:
[Capital One] has mailed an estimated one million fake £100,000 cheques to households to entice them to borrow up to that sum. The loan is secured against their property even if they have a mortgage.
Official-looking reply addresses, checks and other tricks may get your direct mail piece opened, but then what? You’ve attempted to start a customer relationship under false pretenses. Is that the image you want your customers (and, worse…the 90% plus prospects that do NOT respond to your offer) to have of your company?
Put your best foot forward in your marketing efforts. Just make sure it’s the truth.
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Imagine Your Marketing Piece Being Read By Everyone Who Receives It… September 12, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in : content/copy , add a commentArguably the most important copy in your mailpiece is the teaser copy that will appear on the outside envelope. Teasers can, of course, be used elsewhere (as a headline to your letter, for example). But the most common place they’re used is on the envelope. This is where you give the prospect a reason to open your package and read more. You have just a moment to convice them that the paper in their hand doesn’t belong in the trash.
So how do you do it?
Be Emotional
Start with emotions. No one makes a decision based on facts alone. There is always at least one emotion involved (and more often, many emotions): fear of losing one’s job if they make the wrong decision, pride at making the correct choice, desire to own the product or service being purchased, and so on. If your copy appeals to an emotion, you’ll be helping the prospect focus on the emotion you want them to.
Be Sensitive
Get your prospect’s senses involved. How will your product or service taste, look, feel, smell and sound? While you may very well have the best steaks in all the world, “The best steaks in all the world” is not nearly as effective as “Our succulent steaks will satisfy your hunger bite after juicy bite”.
Be Active
Don’t settle for telling your prospects about your product or service. You want them to picture themselves actually using it. If you’re selling a car, don’t talk about the car. Talk about them driving it. Tell them about the wind through their hair, the feel of the engine effortlessly obeying every subtle change, the smell of the new leather, etc. If you’re marketing your babysitting service, paint a picture of a night on the town with their spouse, the taste of the wine they’ll enjoy over a quiet(!) dinner.
Be Brief
Finally, keep it short. Your prospects are likely being bombarded with thousands of advertising messages a day. They don’t have time for one that sticks out for the wrong reason: it’s too hard to read. You only have a few moments, as mentioned earlier. Making the teaser copy too long will result in a sub-conscious feeling of “this looks like too much work for me to read”. And that will likely result in a 3-foot toss to the garbage.
Of course, writing teaser copy is more art than science. Knowing your customers and your prospects is the most important step before trying to communicate with them.
Got any additional tips? I’d love to hear them.
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Don’t Know Your Customers AT ALL? September 8, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in : analysis, lists , add a commentLearning more about your customers is all well and good, but what if you don’t have a list of your customers at all?
Short answer: Start Building One Now!
The 80/20 rule states that 80 percent of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Can you afford not to market to your customers?
How do you get information from your customers? Ask nicely. OK, that’s usually not enough. Here’s a few ideas that might work:
- Sign up for our free giveaway
- Join our mailing list for special discounts and seasonal savings
- Give us the following information to save 10% on this order
- Join our perks program to be invited to our monthly members-only party
Of course, these are just some generic ideas to get you thinking. You’ll need to tailor them to your own business situation.
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