“Mr. Anonymous:” Great Poet and Composer, Lousy Direct Mail Marketer
Published April 1, 2013 | 
Ever get a direct mail marketing piece that said “To Current Resident” on the envelope?
You just threw it in the garbage didn’t you? I don’t blame you. Even if you had time to waste reading junk mail, why would you want to buy from a company that addresses you as the “current resident?”
That’s a no brainer, but here’s the paradoxical lesson in those “mystery man” mailings…
Why Direct Mail Marketers Need to Think More Like Consumers
A lot of marketers could be more successful if they’d simply spend more time thinking like consumers.
This is true in SEO, Social Media marketing, email marketing and in direct mail marketing. Before you send your next direct mail piece out, honestly look at it and ask yourself how appealing it would be to you. Most important, ask yourself if you’re being 100% clear about the question that we all know is on a new customer’s mind.
“Who is this from and why should I read it?”
If you’ve seen any of the renaissance music and some of the old poems from the 15th and 16th century, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of them were written by “Anonymous.” Apparently, that dude did a lot of great work in the world of art. But he’s not so hot in the world of marketing. A generic direct mail piece might save you a lot of money, but it’s going to cost you a lot of results.
I’ve seen people blow money on bulk direct mail campaigns, only to be left saying “I tried that once and it didn’t work, almost lost my shirt.” Most often, the problem wasn’t the offer itself. The problem was the packaging. It wasn’t customized, and these days things that aren’t customized are VERY easy for consumers to consider irrelevant and deem a waste of their time.
Here’s what you can do to make sure your direct mail pieces aren’t ignored…
How to Connect With Your Customers Through Direct Mail
Personalization is the “secret” to connection.
This has always been the case, but it’s especially true in today’s socially driven marketplace. If you’re asking someone to spend money, they want to know where their money is going. They want to know that you’re going to still be there in a few weeks. They want to know that they’ll get their money’s worth. Most important, they need a reason to open the envelope right away and to read your offer.
Being anonymous, or treating the customer as an anonymous nobody just won’t cut it. People won’t read your mail if you do this. They’ll just toss it right into the garbage…where junk mail belongs. So if you’re going to invest in direct mail marketing to promote your business, take the marketer hat off for a moment and look at your campaign through the eyes of a consumer.
If you don’t enough money to send your mail first class, narrow your list and mail to a more targeted customer and a smaller mailing. You’ll get better results if you can customize your offer for a specific demographic anyway.
Most important, remember that consumers read their mail standing over the trash can. You might think your brochure or sales letter is the greatest thing since the iPod, but when you honestly consider its value from a customer’s perspective, do you get the same impression?
If you have doubts, it’s time to revisit your approach. Think like a customer and you’ll have an easier time connecting with them.
-Yours truly
Anonymous Marketer
Direct Mail + Online Marketing: A Conversion Powerhouse
Published March 28, 2013 | Imagine getting a direct mail offer that really grabs your attention. You’re interesting in buying the product or service. But do you call right away and give the company your credit card number? Probably not. You probably do your homework by searching for the company or the product online don’t you?
You might even check out some competitors to see if there’s a better deal. Of course you do. And that’s exactly what your customers will do when they get your next direct mail offer. This is why your company’s online marketing and direct mail marketing campaigns need to work together.
If you get this right, your direct mail campaigns could have twice the conversion rates. Get it wrong, and you could end up buying traffic for your competitors.
No joke, here’s how that can happen…
Your Online Reputation & Your Offline Marketing Are Tag Team Partners
Your online reputation can be the strongest or the weakest link in your marketing chain. But it’s definitely a link, and there’s nothing you can do to stop that. Even if you have no online presence, your customers WILL search for your company online after seeing your offline advertisements. If they don’t find anything, they’ll be less likely to do business with you.
If they find a ton of great reviews about your company, blogs written by your company on multiple sites (aka, guest blogging) and a strong presence on Facebook & Twitter, you’ve got a deal. This is how online marketing can boost your offline success. But what happens if they don’t like what they find? Then, you could do something worse than lose a potential customer. You could end up buying traffic for your competitors.
We’d Like to Thank the Competition (Fill in Your Company Name Here)
Are your competitors saying this when they get new customers?
I hope not. But without a strong online presence and a trusted reputation on review sites, you could end up buying traffic for your competitors without even realizing it. Just imagine, a customer gets YOUR direct mail piece, but then they go online to investigate. They search for your name. Your online presence doesn’t impress them. So they also search for your service type.
What will happen if they find dozens of positive reviews about your competition while doing their homework? That’s right. They’ll do business with your competitor, and your direct mail marketing piece will have just turned into a traffic generation tool for your competition.
Ouch. I’m guessing you’d rather not do that. So before you put your next direct mail marketing campaign together, do a quick search for your company name. Then, do a search for your product name and for the type of product or service you’re offering in your direct mailer.
See if your online reputation will hurt your offline marketing. If you have doubts, or if you want to build a power tag team of online marketing and direct mail marketing that knocks your competition out cold, request a free online consultation from MSI today.
Why Are Smaller Companies Outranking You in SEO?
Published March 18, 2013 | Everyone wants to be on top don’t they?
I’m talking about search search engine optimization, getting to the top position on Google page one. Are you there yet or is one of your competitors sitting on top of “Mount Google” rolling snowballs down on your head? SEO even allows small companies to outrank large companies. But if one of your smaller competitors is trying to wax “David & Goliath” on you, there’s probably a simple explanation for it.
Here are a few things to check out when snooping on your smaller yet higher ranking competitors….
#1: Who Has More Transparency?
Go to your site, then go to the site of the smaller competitor who’s outranking you.
Which site has clearer details on how to get in touch?
Is your company address in an easy to find place?
How about your phone numbers?
Can your visitors easily find directions to your business?
If this information is hard to find in comparison to your competitor’s information, that’s probably one reason they’re on top and you’re not. Look also for their privacy policy and terms of service. These are all factors which Google uses to determine the credibility of a website. ALL of these are simple changes to make, so look for the weak spots and get those patched up.
#2: Who Has Expert Author Status?
No matter how small your competitor is, they can easily dwarf you in the content marketing area by publishing expert content on a consistent basis. This is especially true now that author rank is such a big factor in search engine rankings. Do you have someone consistently writing and posting expert articles and blogs and attaching them to either YOUR author account or an author account for another expert at your business?
If not, a smaller competitor can easily topple you in the search results just by writing and publishing one article a week. This is going to get more important as author rank and expert content become more important in SEO. So start building expert author status today, before your smaller competitors beat you to the bunch.
#3: Whose Site is Easier to Navigate?
Ease of navigation has always been important in search engine optimization. Unfortunately, companies with big marketing budgets like to have big fancy sites created with tons of rich graphics and features…most of which just slow the site down and don’t improve customer conversions. People use the internet search engines to find credible content, not to be entertained by fancy designs. They have sites like You Tube and Facebook for that.
If your smaller competitors are outranking you with less impressively designed sites, it’s probably because they put user experience and credible content as a higher priority.
Finally, if you think your site might be loading too slowly or that your customers might be leaving your site because they can’t find what they want right away, call MSI at the phone number on this website. We’ll help you outrank those pesky, pipsqueak little competitors who are taking your traffic and market share.
See you at the top.
Which is More Dead…Direct Marketing or SEO?
Published March 8, 2013 | “SEO is Dead” has become a popular saying over the past few years.
On a more subtle level, some marketers seem to think that direct mail marketing is dead because it’s so much more expensive than email marketing, social media marketing and SEO.
Really?
I don’t think so. First, NO marketing is free. It’s going to cost you in time or in money, but everything has a cost when it comes to reaching customers. The question isn’t how much you’re investing into something, the question is whether you’re doing it right.
Bad SEO is definitely dead, so is bad direct mail marketing…but so is bad email marketing and bad social media marketing. In fact, bad marketing has always been dead, it’s always been expensive and it’s always going to be.
So before you assume that direct mail marketing is obsolete in the age of the internet, ask yourself whether you’re using direct mail marketing the right way…
The Simple Secret of “Free” Direct Mail Marketing
Pop quiz….If you invest two, three or four thousand dollars into a direct mail marketing campaign, but you make five thousand dollars or more back, how much did that marketing campaign really cost you?
The answer is…nothing!
Good marketing doesn’t cost, it just works!
But how many hours have you invested into trying to reach the first page of Google, assuming that alone will grow your business? It won’t. If you reach the top of the search results, you STILL need a solid strategy for turning traffic into leads and sales. Likewise, you need a strategy for turning your direct mail leads into sales. You need to:
1. Market to the right people.
2. Get the right offer in front of the customer (more than once).
3. Create a well-written and professional designed direct mail piece.
4. Hire MSI for your next direct mail marketing campaign (sorry, couldn’t resist).
That’s all there is too it. If you do these four things, you’ll fall in love with direct mail marketing. You’ll discover that it has the power to set you apart from your competitors because many of them aren’t even using it. It’s easy to get lost in the ocean of brands on the internet. But if you consistently “show up” in your customers’ mailboxes, you’ll be harder to ignore.
The Most Important Habit of Smart Marketers
Smart marketers also know that one is the worst number in marketing. They don’t just depend on one marketing channel or one marketing strategy. They have multiple channels for consistently attracting leads and new sales. No matter what channel they’re using, smart marketers focus on getting the results, not obsessing over the initial cost.
When your direct mail marketing strategy works, the cost eventually becomes a non-issue. Sure, thigs like email marketing can be a fantastic way to build customer relationships. But your email marketing strategy needs to take email deliverability issues into account. SEO can be a great way to attract new leads and sales, but you need a dependable process in place for converting your traffic into leads and sales.
And, of course, direct mail marketing can be a powerful method for connecting directly to your customers, IF you have the right strategy. MSI can help, just as we’ve helped dozens of other customers leverage the power of direct mail marketing. Just call us on the number on this site to find out how we can help you.
Remember, good marketing costs nothing. It just works!
Much success.
4 Link Bait Worthy Blogging Styles
Published January 4, 2013 | 
Looking to create natural back links for your site? You need to master the art of link baiting. Link baiting is simply creating content that readers find entertaining, educational and valuable enough to share on social media and link to. Not only will this content create links that drive up your rankings and SEO, the links are organic and create the type of buzz that gets you noticed.
Creating link bait is time consuming but relatively easy once you master the concept. There are really only four simple blogging styles you need to understand to create content that hooks interest and results in links.
Bait #1 – The Educational “How To” Post
Are you an expert? Would you like to be? Create a series of educational posts with clear instructions on how to solve a problem or handle a complex task. People are searching for step by step guidance on a variety of topics. When they find a post that offers understandable guidance accompanied by screen shots or a video they share it, link to it, and talk about it with their friends.
Finding ideas for this type of post is easy. Pick a topic or niche and look for a forum with user questions and comments. Find a few questions you can answer and you’re in business. Writing a series of posts that offer guidance on hot forum topics establishes you as an expert and conveys instant credibility.
Want your post to go viral? Add tasteful humor or a funny video that draws a smile or an outright guffaw. That’s something worthy of sharing!
Bait #2 – The Controversial Post
Do you have something to say? Can you handle the heat of debate and respond to heated comments with respect and dignity? Consider expressing your opinion in a controversial post. Controversial opinions, when expressed boldly and tastefully, attract a lot of attention. They can even go viral quickly and stay there.
The key to a controversial post is respect. Posts like these draw lots and lots of comments and not all of those comments are friendly. Your post must respectfully and boldly share opinions or thoughts and then encourage comments. While you can be inflammatory, you must never be offensive.
The comments will start pouring in. Be prepared to respond respectfully. Your goal is to encourage debate that attracts attention not start an idea war that leaves offended people turned off to your content.
You can only go to the controversial post when you have passion about the topic. Without a genuine passion for your position your post will lack credibility and hurt you in the long run. Throwing in a controversial post occasionally, however, is good for your reputation and your SEO.
Bait #3 – The Ever Popular List
People love lists. They make lists, look for lists and enjoy reading lists. The topics for a list post are infinite. Simply compile a list of any number (3, 7, 12, 100) of opinions, facts, tips, or items and you have the raw material for a list post.
Your list doesn’t have to educate or instruct. It can be silly, funny, or just plain dumb and attract the attention you need. Lists of trivia are always winners. If you can combine valuable information with humor you’ve really got a winner.
Here are some easy rules for creating list posts...
- Use the numeral in the title rather than the word. For example, “10 ways to lose weight” is better than “Ten ways…”
- Mix things up by including surprising items or adding things that don’t seem to fit just because you want to. Keep the reader guessing (and smiling.)
- Count up or down in your list. Using a progression gives logic to your post and makes it more reader friendly.
Consider encouraging readers to comment and share their additions to your list. Just because you’ve listed your “Top 10 Movies of all Time” doesn’t mean everyone agrees with you.
Bait #4 – Newsworthy Posts
What’s hot right now? Trendy, newsworthy topics make great posts. Find a topic that is trending high right now and create a well written post that presents the topic an original way and you’ve got a winner.
Newsworthy posts are all about quality and creativity. You must perfect your writing style and offer an engaging perspective to create the buzz you’re looking for. Simply rewriting a news article on a topic won’t cut it.
Pay attention to format and create catchy headlines and subheadings for your post. Offer a unique spin by highlighting a portion of the topic and making it relevant to the reader. For example, there are lots of posts about unemployment. Your article about finding humor in a job search presents new and engaging content worthy of sharing.
Posted in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media | 
blog, link bait, ranking, SEO | 
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