Lordec Marketing's Blog

Cheat Sheet For Marketers: 12 Things To Do and Don’t By March 2012

LorDec Marketing — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:41:42 +0000

Each year, the marketing landscape changes in many subtle ways and in a few not so subtle. This past year was no different. New technologies, new tools, new strategies and new tactics have emerged and some of them have become mainstream overnight.

So, with all of the changes, how is a marketer to know what to do and what not to do.

Based on my personal experience as a marketer, the work I do, and the interaction I have each month with thousands of small businesses, here are my recommendations:

Do’s:

Segment by behavior

The “batch-and-blast” method of email marketing is old, worn-out, not very effective, and frankly, it’s annoying. So don’t do it. Get smart by segmenting your list and sending extremely relevant communications to small, targeted lists. Sure, it’s a little more work, but you’ll see much better response. You’ll stop ticking people off. You’ll reduce opt-outs. And conversions will increase. The most effective way to segment (without doing extensive surveying of your list) is by behavior. Track when people open your emails, click on particular links, attend webinars, visit certain pages of your site, and more. With this behavioral profile of your customers you can determine their interests. You can communicate with them on a very personal and relevant manner. And most importantly, you can do it en masse in the same way that you do one-on-one.

Create more personal connection

An observation I’ve made is that big businesses tend to communicate to their customers in a very corporate, dry style. And small businesses, in an effort to not appear small, and to look and feel legitimate, tend to communicate in a more corporate style. Personal connection is lacking in most of the marketing communication out there. I recommend that you be a bit more authentic, that you open kimono a bit more, be more raw and unpolished. People want to connect with people, not businesses. I recently ran into a company that does this well. Saddleback Leather Company sells high-end leather bags. I’m a pretty conservative guy when it comes to my finances. Ok, I’ll open kimono and tell the truth. I’m a bit of a tight wad. But, after browsing the Saddleback Leather Company website, I found myself telling my wife that I’d really like one of these bags. Their marketing is raw, brilliant, and it creates a personal connection. One tip for doing this is to keep one customer in mind when you write. Write for that one person as if you were writing directly to him or her. If you write with that style, instead of writing for the larger group of all of your customers, you’ll create the personal connection you need.

Learn persuasive copywriting basics

I fear that the Internet is creating lazy marketers. The recent social media craze, along with the fact that empowered consumers now control the sales process more than the vendors do, have created a mentality of “build it and they will come”. So, businesses launch their websites, create content and share it, and expect sales to just come rolling in. The inbound marketing approach is now the first step in the sales process, but it falls short as a complete strategy. Sales skill is still required. Persuasive copywriting and sales is a necessary element for converting the traffic that your inbound efforts create. I’ve always loved the Zig Ziglar quote, “Timid sales people have skinny children”. True.

Use more video

Video is a mechanism that can create personal connections very quickly. And for many people, it’s the preferred way to learn. Luckily creating quality video inexpensively is easier now than it’s ever been. I recently helped a client of mine that is a dentist launch a video campaign to targeted segments of his customers. One segment we identified is a group of Canadian customers that come to Arizona in the winter. They pay on time. They don’t complain. They’re happy customers. So, we created a video campaign specifically for them. Here’s a simple, somewhat corny, but very effective video we created for them. We shot and edited this video on my iPhone. Now, tell me that wasn’t easy.

Look to mobile for lead capture

The mobile market is exploding. You can’t ignore it any longer. If you do any kind of direct mail or outdoor advertising, you should consider using QR codes. What about text messaging? Give your customers the option of requesting more information, coupons, or bonus offers if they text in your keyword to a short code. Luckily, American Idol has taught millions of people how to vote (or request info) via text. Smartphones are getting more powerful by the day and users are using them more and more. You’re missing out on opportunity if your customers can’t engage with your company on their phone when the time is right.

Define your social strategy

If your social media marketing strategy involves reaching a certain number of followers or friends, you’re focusing on the wrong things. Social media marketing is a traffic source. As a marketing effort, social media should be measured the same as other marketing efforts. So, measuring traffic, leads, and customers from social media efforts keeps you more focused on the right things. If you’re using social media for customer loyalty, it should be measured in with similar metrics to other customer loyalty efforts. Does it improve satisfaction scores? Does it reduce calls to your support team? However you decide to use social media, just make sure you’re measuring the right metrics. Don’t let anyone convince you that the ROI of social media is untrackable. Everything is trackable these days.

Don’ts:

Batch & blast your email list

Clearly this is the antithesis of my first “Do”, but it’s important enough to call out again. Email marketing has recently been under attack. It is still the undisputed leader in cost-effective conversion marketing. Email is still the “inner sanctum”. If you had to choose between a list of 1,000 people that opted in to your email marketing or 1,000 Twitter followers, you’d choose the email opt-ins all day long. Treat those valuable prospects the right way. Don’t blast them with your promos. Send targeted emails that create value in the relationship.

Do stuff without tracking

Everything is trackable these days. You shouldn’t settle for doing anything without full visibility into the metrics. You can now track all of your offline efforts as well as your online efforts. Marketing still requires a bit of guesswork and a lot of testing. But, because of the tracking that is now available to you, you should be able to know what’s working and what’s not working within very short time frames.

Overdraw your emotional savings account

Technologies that are available today allow us to stay in touch with our customers like never before. We have email autoresponders, social media, direct mail, voice broadcast, mobile apps, text messaging, and more. But that doesn’t mean we can hammer our customers with sales messages. Think of your relationship with your customers as a savings account. A general rule of thumb is to make 4-5 deposits before making a withdrawal. Make sure your sales pitches or promotions are less than 25 percent of your communications and that your other communications are building the balance in your bank account by creating value for your customers.

Don’t forget about direct mail

Direct mail, when utilized within an online marketing campaign can reinforce your message and further the connection you have with your customers. Because of the cost, many marketers are reduced the amount of direct mail they send. This gives you an opportunity to stand out. If you’re following my first suggestion to segment by behavior, you can ensure that you’re only sending direct mail to people who have responded to your marketing efforts. This ensures that you’re investing in the customers that are most likely to continue buying from you.

Buy an email list

Please don’t buy an email list. If you didn’t build the list on your own and you haven’t obtained explicit permission from your list to email them, then it’s not cool to email them. Sure, there are plenty of people who will send you “opt-in” email lists. And according to the CAN-SPAM law of 2003, it’s ok to buy a list and email them. But, you’ll get a bunch of spam complaints. The response will be abysmal. And, you’ll contribute to the decline of email effectiveness by filling more people’s inboxes with irrelevant messages.

Have a static website

I’ve talked to many small businesses that believe they are “online” because they have a website. Remember, build it and they will NOT come. Throwing a static brochure online and no one will know. It’s like a tree falling in the forest that no one hears. You need to drive some traffic to your site. One of the most cost-effective ways to do that is to blog about topics important to your target market. The search engines love sites that are actively adding valuable content. So, learn some basic SEO principles and turn your static site into a thriving sales machine.

In a simple list of do’s and don’ts, I can’t cover every possible topic. But based on my experience these are a few of the things that can propel your marketing efforts in 2012.

By Tyler Garns, Infusionsoft

Do Young People Prefer Print Marketing?

LorDec Marketing — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:58:44 +0000

Do Young People Prefer Print Marketing?

By Doc at ZDNet.com

It may seem counter intuitive, but Doc was not completely surprised to see that in the results of a new study on direct marketing, for certain types of products and services, young people in the 18-34 year old bracket prefer receiving messages by print.

The study, titled “Finding the Right Channel Combination: What Drives Channel Choice?” was conducted by ICOM, a division of Epsilon Targeting, and surveyed over 2500 U.S. and 2200 Canadian households and found that, when asked their preference, consumers prefer direct mail over online media for many types of marketing communications.

By the numbers, here are some of the key results from ICOM’s 2010 study of North American consumers’ marketing communication channel preferences:

For household and health products, the preference among 18-34 year-old Americans for receiving marketing information from offline sources led by mail and newspapers is 2 to 3 times greater than online sources such as social media.

Consumer preferences for offline versus online are:
Product........................Offline......Online:
Personal Care.....................62%          22%
Food Products....................66%          23%
Cleaning Products...............66%          20%
OTC Medicine.....................53%          21%
Sensitive Health Products.....46%          21%
Prescription Medicine............45%          21%

Travel was the exception, where 18-34 year-old Americans preferred online to offline information by a 42% to 35% margin, however, insurance and financial services followed the overall trend, with the 18-34 age group preferring offline sources 43% to 21% and 44% to 19%, respectively.

The survey also indicated that consumers of all ages are finding postal mail more trustworthy these days. Information is more private if sent through the mail versus e-mail or online, according to 36% of US respondents and 38% of Canadian respondents.

So what did Doc learn from this report? That for certain types of information that is deemed either more personal or important, even young people have more trust in print marketing. Very interesting.

15 to 24 year olds are “highly receptive” to direct mail

LorDec Marketing — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:35:49 +0000

15 to 24 year olds are “highly receptive” to direct mail

According to Experian’s latest research, those aged between 15 and 24 are “highly receptive” to direct mail.

This younger generation are the demographic second most responsive to it, after those aged 65 and above.

The study claims that, although those aged between 15 and 24 spend much time on the internet, they still have a greater tendency to buy items in shops, as opposed to ordering online.

Experian says this is due to teenagers having a “want it now” attitude. However, another explanation could be that teenagers have less access to credit or debit cards than the older respondents.

Nigel Wilson, managing director of marketing information services at Experian, said: “Younger UK consumers will engage with offline and online channels not only to get the best price, but also get their hands on the products as quickly as possible after purchase.

“After researching items and price comparisons on the internet, they will then purchase from the high street rather than wait for delivery.

“This really emphasises the rise of the ‘I want it now generation’, who use a cross-channel approach to optimise their purchasing experience.”

How Do You Measure Your Brand Equity, the Value of Your Business Name?

LorDec Marketing — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:14:03 +0000

How Do You Measure Your Brand Equity, the Value of Your Business Name?

Brand Identity is like a fingerprint. The value of a name is an extremely important asset of a business that depends on brand recognition to generate sales and build customer loyalty.

How do you measure your Brand Value? What is your touchstone?

Please take our Survey by clicking on Survey Button.

Take Our Survey!

We value your opinion. Comments are also welcome. We would love to hear from you and share our findings with you.

The Value Of A Name

LorDec Marketing — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:36:13 +0000

The Value Of A Name . . .

Brand Identity Is Like A Fingerprint

The value of a name is an extremely important asset of a business that depends on brand recognition to generate sales and build customer loyalty. In the financial world it is such a crucial part of financial success that multimillion and billion dollar buyouts have been completed by Fortune 500 companies that were simply buying a company because the name had a great reputation with consumers. In some cases the name brand is worth more than the holdings of the company. That shows the tremendous value brand identity has with financial experts and business entrepreneurs.

Regardless of what industry, profession, or enterprise you are involved in it is essential to build a solid business reputation with customers and clients. Protecting the value of a name takes diligence and an aggressive approach to monitoring how customers, clients, and the public are perceiving your brand in general. The fastest indicator to get accurate feedback is by following what people are posting about your business online through product reviews, forums, and social networks. In the digital communication age, the Internet community has a tremendous amount of power that can essentially destroy the reputation of a business.

If there are inaccurate complaints or false statements posted you should immediately respond professionally online to neutralize the situation. Customers and clients hate to feel their opinions are being ignored. Offering real information and solutions shows that you care and will greatly increase your business reputation. Businesses that ignore online complaints lose credibility quickly. People’s natural reaction is to feel alienated and in most cases they spread negative comments about your brand using grassroots digital means like blogs and social networks. This can spark a fire of bad publicity that can have a very damaging impact on how your business is viewed.

Brand identity can be positively cultivated online by having a user-friendly website that offers an area where people can submit complaints, ask questions, or give positive feedback on your brand. This consumer information is a valuable resource you can use to improve your product or service, while building a good business reputation that drastically elevates your brand identity. Keeping lines of communication open and actively engaging with existing and potential customers and clients will increase your business visibility in the marketplace.

The value of a name is key factor on how financially well a brand can do in the marketplace. It represents to consumers the level of value and trust they have in a product or service. A poor reputation will result in terrible sales figures and an inability to build a loyal customer and client base that generates sales.

(c) 2011 LorDec Marketing 240.316.3076

Stress Management Is Important To Your Health

LorDec Marketing — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:09:28 +0000

Stress Management Is Important To Your Health . . .

Stress occurs in the daily life of everyone. Feeling frightened, unsure, worried, or angry are all stressors that in an ideal world would only occur occasionally when the body needed to react to a real threat. There are physical manifestations of stress that adapt the body to fight or flee in order to protect itself from harm. A stress management strategy that includes dealing with stress is important in order to remain free of the physical and psychological harm that happens to you when you feel stressed too much of the time.

When you feel stress, your body cannot know whether it is due to a real physical threat to your safety or a perceived threat of some sort in your mind. Either causes the same chemicals to be released to help you fight the situation, including cortisol and adrenaline. These natural hormones cause your heart and breathing to speed up, your blood pressure to rise, and your body to gain strength and focus. These reactions are only helpful for short periods of time, but if you feel stressed very often, these chronic changes take a toll on your health and contribute to a variety of illnesses.

Stress management is important so that you can reduce the amount of time you feel threatened and relax your mind and body to be better able to cope. Many people turn to unhealthy ways of dealing with stress including drugs, alcohol, overeating, sleeping too much, or withdrawal from friends and loved ones. These only contribute to the overall problem and add further damage to your body and mental state.

Stress management really boils down to two things. The first thing to do is accept the things in your life that you cannot change. There are probably stressful situations that are not going to change in your life, such as the behaviors of others. In this case, you will need to change how you react to those people, using faith, meditation, humor, or any other tool at your disposal. The second type of stressor is one in which you have control. If something causes you anxiety and you can avoid it, then by all means, make it a priority to avoid that situation.

Stress management is about setting limits, and finding a balance of things you do for others with things you do for yourself. You may start by keeping a small notebook and jot down the stressors you feel and how you cope with them. Categorize them according to things you can change and things you cannot change and then make an action plan to begin coping with each of those items in a healthy way. Dealing with stress will contribute to increased peace of mind, improved relationships with your family, and a healthier and longer life.

(c) 2011 LorDec Marketing 240.316.3076

You Are What You Eat

LorDec Marketing — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:17:41 +0000

You Are What You Eat . . .

With health problems and obesity in this country rising to epidemic levels, more and more people are looking for ways to change the way that they eat and, in so doing, improve their overall health. The connection between one’s diet and the likelihood that they will suffer from diseases such as diabetes and heart disease have been known for years, but their rising incidence has caused increased attention to be paid to these issues. It has never been clearer than it is now that the old trope you are what you eat is shockingly medically accurate.

Ideally, food will provide you with the energy that you need to get through the day, and to keep all your organ systems operating at the peak of health. As holistic nutrition teaches, understanding the interaction between how our bodies feel and what we put into them goes far beyond simple calorie counting. Instead, it is important to ensure that we are eating the right kind of calories, and taking care to create a balanced diet of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins and minerals. Not only must all these nutrients be present in what one eats every day, but also they must come from the right sources.

Even those who manage to keep their weight under control may find that they are feeling drained by the end of the day. This lack of energy is due, some experts claim, to the number of preservatives and toxins that are consumed in the average diet. In order to avoid these toxins, health conscious individuals should seek out organic produce and free-range meat whenever possible. Because they have never been exposed to pesticides or growth hormones, they will not introduce these chemicals into the body of those who eat them.

For many, the downside of avoiding processed foods and switching to fresh and organic ingredients comes down to cost and convenience. Though the cost at the store is greater, for those who shop organic, shoppers may find that they miss less work each year, and that they will accrue fewer medical bills for the treatment of chronic conditions. In terms of convenience, cooking your own meals can be made easy, with the plethora of 30 minute and less cookbooks available on the shelves of bookstores and health food shops.

Being proactive about your health by incorporating some of the tenets of holistic nutrition into your diet will require a lifestyle change for many. However, these changes will bring with them increased energy to face the day and better health for years to come. Not only that, but many find that avoiding processed foods and switching to homemade meals enables them to exert more control over their weight and get into better shape than ever before.

(c) 2011 LorDec Marketing 240.316.3076

Things You Must Know When Buying A Home

LorDec Marketing — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:56:37 +0000

Things You Must Know When Buying A Home

Given all the recurring costs involved, when buying a home top things to know includes a list of the apparent and obvious as well as some surprises. Included as obvious are heating and cooling costs and property taxes. Surprises might include: the rules of a neighborhood association; the age of the roof and the integrity of basement walls or slab foundation; limitations on pets; location of police and fire stations and availability of public transit; suitability of public schools; failing trees.

Aside from monthly mortgage obligations, energy consumption and taxes are the largest cost components of home ownership. Due to technological advances and upgraded building codes, newer houses are more energy efficient than those built before 1990. While older, less efficient HVAC systems can be replaced without a lot of disruption, retrofitting insulation or better windows is more problematic. Property taxes may be too high. Current housing market conditions were preceded by hyperinflation in property values as fraudulently obtained mortgages created an artificial demand. Consequently, property taxes rose but in many cases, no correction has yet occurred.

Buying a home

Neighborhood associations serve a good purpose but may impose restrictions, such as color or type of roofing material, that affect lifestyle, or assess dues that impose unreasonable costs. Asphalt shingle roofs typically have a 25 year life span while wood shake shingles may range from 20 to 50 years depending upon quality and maintenance; slate or tile roofs last longer but are nearly twice as expensive to install.

A damp basement can cause mold which may lead to allergies or personal property deterioration; this condition might result from cracked basement walls caused by subsurface erosion; this is not unusual but repair costs thousands. However, cracks due to unusual subsurface soil characteristics, or nearness of a gully or cliff, may require substantially higher repair costs or even abandonment of the property. When buying a home, top things to know would certainly include the possibility of this catastrophic consequence.

Children and Buying A Home

If you have children, the quality of public schools is obviously important; you may end up paying for both tax funded and private education if public schools are inadequate. Some cities have limitations on the number of dogs or cats you can own; if you like animals and have more than one, any such rule is important to know. Fire or police department or post office location may seem trivial but in a pinch could prove important. You may never have to take a bus, but if necessary it could be a major inconvenience if a bus stop is far away. Trees are things of beauty but costly to remove if in a dangerous condition. When buying a home top things to know should include these considerations.

Do not undertake a real estate purchase lightly. If buying a home, top things to know require you to ask questions. Seek copies of utility bills, tax assessments and association by laws. Ask prospective neighbors about foundation problems they might have had, and probe their attitudes about schools. Leave no stone unturned and there should be no surprise when buying a home.

Google to launch Groupon-like daily deals service

LorDec Marketing — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:02:25 +0000

Google to launch Groupon-like daily deals service – Direct Marketing News http://bit.ly/fzkMvd

AOL, Valassis partner on digital coupon channel

LorDec Marketing — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:01:04 +0000

AOL, Valassis partner on digital coupon channel – Direct Marketing News http://bit.ly/gRB7YV