Marketing Insider 2015 Tri3

ISSUE 03 2015 NEWS AND KNOWLEDGE FOR TODAY’S MARKETERStreamline yourMarketing in 2016 5 Dos and Don’ts for Investing Your Time Wisely Page 06Targeted lists ID best Mobile-friendly sites Customer contact planbuyers, drive new leads attract users, Google halts random marketingPage 02 Page 05 Page 10

Dear Fellow Marketer:An outcome of your business planning process ought to be a marketing plan thatoutlines the components you need to advance you toward your company vision andgoals. In tandem is your sales plan with specific strategies, tactics and measurementsthat will drive customer retention and acquisition – both necessary for the health ofyour organization.An effective marketing plan includes the following:• Clear business goal(s)• Marketing goal(s) that are in alignment with them• Precise market definition to answer the question: Who are our best customers?• Selected marketing channels that are available to you and will be most effective• Messaging strategy, meaning what you will say or offer to get a response• Measurements to define what success looks likeAs you know, marketing communications are driven by getting the right message, tothe right people, at the right time using the right medium . . . for less than what youcan do through personal sales. It’s not an exact science, and takes some trial-and-errorto find the right mix of channels and messages. As marketing consultant Kate Dunnsummarizes beginning on page 6, a plan is only as good as your ability to faithfullyexecute it.We hope you’ll find insights in this issue to help you start planning your marketingfor 2016. We’re sharing tactical advice on pages 2-3 for uncovering new leads usingtargeted lists for your direct marketing campaigns. And on pages 10-11, we’reoffering tips to nurture your existing customers in a more focused way throughoutthe year.There’s lots of other good stuff inside. We hope you’ll spend a few minutes to takea look and let us know what you think.Happy Marketing!

ISSUE 03 2015 Contents06 SPOTLIGHT IN THIS ISSUE Streamline Your 02 T here’s a List for That! Profile Your BestMarketing in 2016 Customers for Targeted Prospecting 5 Dos and Don’ts Buyers will come and buyers will go. Replace natural loss with for Investing Your solid lead generation strategies using a tried-and-true channel: direct mail. Time Wisely 04 2 015 Multi-channel Response Rates Infographic 05 H old the Phone! Mobile-friendly Website is a Marketer’s Must-have As mobile search becomes more widespread than desktop, learn how to ensure your website is easy to find and navigate. 10 N urture Best Customers to Long-term Loyalty Direct marketing expert Ruth P. Stevens shares why retention marketing is a priority for any business and how to match your investments based on customer value. 12 5 Tips to Help Prospects Find You, and Keep Them Coming Back For More Be where they go! Find out ways to draw prospects to you with quality content in all of the right places.

THERE’S A LIST FOR THAT! Profile Your Best Customers for Targeted Prospecting Direct mail continues to score big points with business and nonprofit marketers, as response rates reach 3.7% using a house list and 1% with a prospect list – outperforming all digital channels combined at 0.62%.02

Selling more to existing customers is naturally just ownership or equity available, household income,easier, and should be balanced with your efforts to reach length of time in the residence, marital status, andnew buyers or revive dormant ones. number and ages of children present in the home.As a general rule of thumb, a stable business with solid Data Begets Dataproducts/services and good customer service canexpect the average relationship to last five to seven Essential to any good lead generating activity is theyears before a customer is lost through natural attrition: capture of prospect data so you can actively nurturea death, relocation, job change or another business that lead toward a purchase. For example, your directrelationship develops. mail piece might ask prospects to download a free informational guide via a campaign landing page orThis loss, also known as customer churn, is normal. by returning a reply card.Consequently, you want to have a plan in place with In both response channels, be sure to have a simplesolid lead generation marketing activities. And one lead capture form where your prospects exchangeof the best places to start lead gen is by knowing the additional information, like an email address or theirattributes of your current “best” customers. product/service interests, for the content they seek. This is also a great place to ask them to “opt-in to ourToday’s savvy marketers can’t afford to waste time or e-newsletter,” so you have their permission to contactmoney reaching out to prospects that have little chance them via email for ongoing nurture, moving you towardof becoming buyers. Even if you have a pretty good idea your goal of replacing expected lost revenue withof who your best customers are, can you define them in new sales.terms that will help you find the next “like kind” businessor consumer? Contact us if you need guidance with customer profiling or list sourcing. We’re here to help! nYour company’s house files can offer a gold mine ofinformation for “cloning” customers and minimizing the 1 Direct Marketing Association Response Rate Report 2015waste associated with marketing to the wrong prospects. 3Test a Targeted CampaignUsing your house files, you can take the basicinformation you have about your best business It gets even better. Data-driven prospectingor consumer customers that reflects the existing allows you to target mailings to very specificrelationship, and working with your marketing services audiences using specialty lists.provider, add demographic information to enhance yourcustomer profile. Need to reach coaches or counselors? Sewing enthusiasts? Pet owners or animal advocates?Both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to- Back pain sufferers? Donors to children’sconsumer (B2C) marketers can benefit from customer charities? There’s a list for that.profiling. More robust customer data improvesthe effectiveness of targeted prospect marketing Schedule a test mailing in your 2016 marketingcampaigns, and helps you to cross-sell and up-sell plan using a highly specialized list. Includeto current customers. It can also guide your efforts a relevant special offer or incentive. Andto reactivate dormant or lost ones. package it all in a mailer that gets noticed.B2B data fields that can “flesh out” a top customer ISSUE 03 | 2015 03profile would include annual sales, number of employees,legal status, location type, minority-owned business,nonprofit, owner versus renter or years in business, justto name a few.Examples of B2C data fields would be adults in thehousehold and their ages, credit card ownership, home

2015 MULTI-CHANNEL RESPONSE RATESMarketers continue to embrace a multi-channel strategy to drive response. Just 35% use one channel, while 44% use three or more. In these instances, the most popular channels tend to be: DIRECT MAIL RESPONSE RATES OUTPERFORM DIGITAL CHANNELS.3.7 1.0Direct mail achieves a % RESPONSE RATE LEADER BOARD %response rate response ratewith a house list with a prospect list 5.0% 4.25 %ITSECURITY Postcards Oversized envelopesAll digital channels combined achieve a 4.0 %DITiSmECUReITYnsional IT SECURITY 3.5% 0.62 % IT SECURITY IT SECURITY Letter-sized response rate envelopes 3.9% Catalogs VIRTUALLY EVERYONE WHO USES WHEN HOUSE LISTS ARE USED, EMAIL SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING ALSO USES HAS THE LOWEST COST-PER-ACQUISITION OF EMAIL, AND OVER HALF ALSO USE DIRECT THE MEDIA IN THIS STUDY, HOWEVER SUFFERSMAIL, ONLINE DISPLAY AND PAID SEARCH. FROM ONE OF THE LOWEST RESPONSE RATES. Social media has one of the lower 3-4% 17-18% click-through rates among digital media lowest for lead highest for B-to-B types at between generation emails emails sent to sent to prospect lists house lists 2.1 and 2.5% 1-1.9% 4-4.9% The most common purpose of social media advertising for lowest for B-to-C, highest for email B-to-B and lead gen emails campaigns to drive traffic 40% sent to prospect lists sent to house lists is to drive brand awareness, the highest of any medium in this study for this purpose. Source: Direct Marketing Association Response Rate Report 201504

Streamline your Marketing in 2016 5 Dos and Don’ts for Investing Your Time Wisely According to a 2015 study by InfoTrends1, nearly 43% of marketers say their top marketing priority is to generate more leads. About one in three say enhancing engagement with both existing customers and prospects, and improving return on investment are also a significant business objectives.06

In parallel, two of the leading challenges organizations and nonprofits,cited in the study are new business the fourth quarter is prime timedevelopment and improving the quality to begin planning marketing effortsof leads. Staying up-to-date with current for the upcoming year that can bringtrends and technologies rounded out the these universal goals and others intothree-way tie. closer reach.For small and mid-sized businesses And it’s the same period when countless(SMBs), as well as many other priorities come calling. 1InfoTrends, North American Marketing Software Investment Outlook, 2015 ISSUE 03 | 2015 07

Few, if any, business owners and managers are immune templates upfront for regular email promotions or a to the “many hats” syndrome. When multiple priorities series of postcard mailings distributed throughout the are competing for your headspace, how can you ensure year. This allows you to quickly and easily drop in new necessary marketing planning and subsequent campaign offers or content as you go. deployment aren’t overlooked as you budget that most precious commodity called, “time”? 3. DO be creative in shaping your offers To find out, we reached out to one of the foremost and appeals. authorities in marketing. Kate Dunn, director of Special offers are likely to be part of your 2016 marketing InfoTrends’ Business Development Group, shared plan, but know that dollars-off promises aren’t always her thoughts into time-saving and business-building optimal. Why? At any given time, only a small percentage strategies for 2016 with a quick list of key dos and of your audience is likely to be ready to purchase. So don’ts: while a $20 savings coupon could lure some in, it may1. DO settle for less than a perfect be instantly dismissed by a majority of targets. strategy. “Think outside the norm for your content messaging and offers,” says Dunn. “I know a real estate agent Dunn points out that in their quest for marketing who offered tips to people on how to market their own perfection, many SMBs tend to overanalyze and then fall homes in contrast to competitors who said, ‘Here are behind, never seeing their strategies get off the ground. reasons to choose me.’ His message reached a sizable “Instead, your goal should be continuous improvement niche of home sellers, many of whom were likely to need through consistent action.” an agent when their own efforts failed.” 4.Above all, get going and stick with it. Resist the DON’T overlook direct mail as part of your marketing mix. temptation to stop if you don’t see immediate results or to flit from one strategy to another while chasing the next marketing trend. “Often, just as consumers are For ease and economy, emails to customers who’ve getting to know you, marketers will quit or change opted in for ongoing communications are the workhorse tactics and negate the value of previous of many marketing campaigns. Yet even the strongest communications,” says Dunn. digital marketers know the most powerful formula is a2. DO p ut your marketing on combination of channels that can get the attention of “auto pilot.” your prospect and keep them engaged. “Capitalize on print’s tactile qualities by considering With the right preparation, it’s possible to “automate” the many options in high-impact printing like textured much of your marketing. Begin by thinking big picture. finishes, thicker paper stocks, creative die cuts or What does success look like for your business next year? engaging folds for direct mail,” says Dunn. “And follow How can you get there? What will your customers and industry best practices by knowing that your mailing list prospects need to hear? And, when’s the optimum time will account for 50% of your campaign’s success, your to deliver any given message? offer 30%, and the creative 20%.” “Answers to these questions and others will help you Mission critical? Source a high-quality targeted list for shape your campaigns,” says Dunn. “Be as ambitious as lead generation, and keep your house data of current you can be, but map out a modest plan at minimum.” customers clean to avoid the needless expense of Automation comes into play when you create layout reaching out to people who have moved on. “And pay08

attention to your customers’ behaviors,” Dunn suggests. says Dunn. “In doing so, you’re likely to turn a happy“Print is a great way to resuscitate a customer who has customer into an ecstatic one, thereby cementing yourbecome immune to your digital messaging.” relationship and prompting even more referrals.”5. DON’T fail to have others advocate Need help with the planning or execution of your for you. marketing campaigns? Let us know; we can help. nOne of the most effective marketing tactics are referrals. Serious about smarter Kate DunnGet the ball rolling by making it part of your sales marketing in 2016? Join us for Director of InfoTrends’process to say “thank you” on a regular basis with cards a free educational webinar Business Development Groupor notes. Then, it’s easier to ask satisfied customers to with Kate Dunn on Novembershare their positive experiences with friends, colleagues 10 at 1 p.m. (ET) See the backand social networks. cover for details or go to: Getreadytogrow.com. Register“Better yet, do something unexpected like delivering today; space is limited.flowers, cookies or perhaps a free month of service witha personal note to someone who’s gone to bat for you,” When is it time to call in the reinforcements? Reality check: Are you having trouble finding the time to put your marketing plan on paper? Or, if plotted out, are you too busy to implement your ideas? Does it take you all year to get one marketing initiative completed? “These are sure signs you need the assistance of a marketing services provider,” says Dunn. “The most common thing I see are business owners who are too busy working in their business to work on their business. “The key to success is owning up to what you won’t get done and getting the help you need to make sure it does get done. Marketing your business is a must-do. If marketing is not your forte, or even if it is but you have too many other things on your plate, it’s better to outsource it to ensure it gets done.” ISSUE 03 | 2015 09

Nurture Best Customers to Long-term Loyalty Contact matrix keeps you on track By Ruth P. StevensBusiness and consumer marketers alike need to pay attention to retention marketing. The consumer world is way ahead with value-based, data-drivensegmentation and frequency-point programs of all kinds. But because it’s rare, theupside potential is great for business-to-business. You can get a lot of competitivebenefit if you move quickly. Philosophically, business marketers are already ahead of the a customer who has bought a lot from you, however often, retention curve. They tend to have small universes to play is not necessarily loyal. in, so they instinctively know they have to focus on satisfying their customer base. It’s the way any good salesman would For a better price, better quality and better delivery terms, manage his territory. Business-to-business direct marketing he may drop off without giving you a chance to respond. does nothing more than replicate the time-honored Second, just by looking at his value doesn’t say much of approaches of a salesman — just more efficiently. anything about his total value — about your share of his budget. He may be spending just a little with you, but a lot So how do you nurture your best customers? The same way with the bad guys. To supplement RFM, you must focus on a salesman would. You get to know them and their needs. wallet share. You make them feel good about doing business with you. You spend time and money on them according to what Retention Programs they are worth to you. You sell to them the way they want to buy. You watch your competitor, and make sure you are Once you’ve identified your best customers, select the right providing at least as much value as he is. approach to retention marketing. Here are some options: But let’s back up a step. How do you decide who is your • Differentiated coverage. After you’ve analyzed your best customer? Most direct marketers rely on recency/ customers’ value (or potential value), invest more in frequency/monetary value to segment customers by value. covering the high-value accounts. Treat them better, RFM is a great tool for analyzing customers by their past like giving them the best volume discounts or seminar behavior. invitations. But RFM isn’t the whole story. To evaluate “bestness,” RFM D ifferentiating your customers by value makes natural analysis can be a misleading indicator for two reasons. First, economic sense on a return-on-investment basis, and it also makes retention sense: You are truly nurturing your10 best customers.

• Triggered after-marketing programs. Create an If you are in a growing marketplace, you will need to focus after-market relationship management program that is on both acquisition and retention. customized to what is going on in the account and tries to be optimally relevant to the buyer. Finally, don’t forget to reactivate your dormant customers, who often fall by the wayside because of lack of attention.• Loyalty programs. Taking a page from the consumer On the value scale, these are the folks you should focus on loyalty business, a number of businesses have successfully second, just after your current customers. You need to find fenced off their best accounts and put in place a special out why they aren’t buying from you today; and, if they do program to recognize and reward them. represent a profitable opportunity to you, get them back. nInvestment Trade-off: Acquire or Retain Ruth P. Stevens’s expertise in customer acquisition and retention derives from a decade and a half of hands-onThe way you talk to a current customer is different — or marketing for both large enterprises and start-up companies.it ought to be different — from talking to prospects. The Just prior to beginning her consulting practice, she served asmore basic question is: How much of your budget do you chief marketing officer at an Internet company in New Yorkconcentrate on retention vs. new customer acquisition? City. Before that, she had broad responsibilities for direct marketing at three corporate giants – IBM, Ziff-Davis andWe all know that customers cost a lot more to acquire Time Warner. She is past chair of the Business-to-Businessthan to keep. The best way to allocate the marketing Council of the Direct Marketing Association.mix is to analyze where you are in the product life cycleand the size of your universe of potential customers. You might set up a plan to contact your best customers 25 times a year: 12 by email, six by phone, six by mail and one face-to-face sales call. Inquirers, on the other hand, merit a different set of contacts designed to move them along to become first-time customers. Your lapsed, or dormant, customers would be treated differently with a series of contacts intended to win them back. Social media activities would span customer type and be ongoing. Sample Customer Contact Matrix: An Ongoing Communication Model Email Direct Phone Sales visit Total Expense Revenue Expense: mail contacts per per Revenue customer customerCustomer Customer $0.25 $1.50 $15 $250segment quantityInquirers 350 61 1 0 8 $18 $50 36%One-time 400 12 3 6 0 21 $97.50 $500 19.5%buyersMulti- 200 12 6 6 1 25 $352 $2,000 17.6%buyersDormant 150 31 1 0 5 $17.25 $75 23%customersTotal 1,100 ISSUE 03 | 2015 11

FINDERS … KEEPERS search engine rankings were most prevalent among those who’ve been using social media for one year5 tips to help prospects find you, or longer, with 54%+ reporting a rise. More thanand keep ‘em coming back for more six in 10 say they find it useful for building a loyal fan base, and more than half who have been usingIn contrast to outbound marketing channels, like social media for two or more years have been advertising or direct mail that you use to buy a able to establish thought leadership.5 Like otherperson’s attention, inbound marketing focuses on content marketing strategies, be generous withtactics that earn it. your knowledge in Facebook or LinkedIn posts, and respond quickly to customer concerns or feedbackHow? Chiefly, by creating quality content to attract to start and keep the conversation going.a steady stream of qualified people that you can thenconvert, close and delight over time. 5. Be exclusive with email. When all of your best efforts start to pay off in visitors, fans, followers andInbound marketing is rapidly gaining enthusiasts with downloads, it may not equal a mass of ready buyers.small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The number Integrate an outbound strategy, like email. It canof marketers who practice inbound rose from 60% in 2013 help you continue to deliver relevant content andto 85% just one year later.1 exclusive offers as new relationships with prospects develop and convert to sales. In one survey, 95%To start – or strengthen – your inbound marketing efforts, of business-to-business responders reported usingconsider the following: email, perhaps because messages to names on house lists enjoyed open rates of 23-24%. 6 1. Claim your local listings. Invest the time to register your business’s website with online Need assistance in formulating or executing your directories like Google+ Local or Yahoo! Local®. Pay inbound marketing strategies? Let us know; we special attention to accuracy and consistency. When can help. customers search local listings, your address (67%), phone (67%) and company name (57%) rank high among the basic information they seek.2 2. Make the most of your website. More than three-quarters of SMBs use a website as their primary online presence.3 Keep your company’s site relevant by regularly refreshing it with new and useful content. Multi-media content, like videos, blogs, how-to guides, infographics, case studies and success stories are attractive to search engines and searchers alike. (See page 5 for more on mobile optimization.) 3. Access your inner writer … and blog. The best blogs are those that contain interesting and informational content that speaks to your targets and answers their questions. For many SMBs, it’s a worthwhile endeavor: Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13 times more likely to enjoy positive return on investment.4 4. Engage with social media. Patience is, indeed, a virtue with social media marketing. Improved 1 Local Media Tracking Study, 2013, Local Search Association/Burke Inc. 2 Benefits and Barriers of Bringing a Small Business Online, 2013, Verisign, Inc. 3 State of Inbound Marketing 2014, HubSpot 4 Major Purchase Shopper Study 2013, GE Capital Retail Bank 5 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Social Media Examiner 6 DMA 2015 Response Rate Report, Direct Marketing Association12

Hold the Phone!Mobile-friendly websiteis a marketer’s must-haveWebsite searches on mobile devices – Androids • Implement a responsive design. They and iPhones – are now more common than automatically render the site in the optimumthose conducted on tablets and desktop computers, format by recognizing the device upon which itsays Google.1 Once a nice-to-have, a mobile-friendly will be viewed. With it, mobile sites will displaywebsite has quickly become an essential. To ignore this in narrower, vertical columns for smartphones astrend can be risky business for small and medium-sized opposed to the wider columns better viewed onorganizations for two big reasons: tablets and desktops.1. Smartphone searchers have a need for speed. • Lighten the load. Accelerate the loading time ofForty-six percent of mobile users expect the load time your mobile website by avoiding large image fileson a phone to be as fast as their desktop, while 12% and pages not relevant to mobile searchers whoexpect it to be even faster.2 The same research notes typically want the basics, like location information,that most smartphone users will wait only six to 10 hours of operation and key products or services.seconds for a website to load before abandoning a page– presumably to search for the next alternative. • M ove rather than “remodel.” Instead of retrofitting your HTML site to improveIf the possibility of losing customers to your competitors responsiveness, move it to a more compatibleisn’t reason enough to consider a mobile-optimized content management system such as Drupal,website, there’s one more … and it’s a doozy. Joomla or WordPress.2. Google plays favorites. Earlier this year, Google • T est it for performance. As you build your mobile-changed its search algorithms to favor sites that are optimized site, Google’s mobile-friendly testmobile optimized. Dubbed “Mobilegeddon,” this tool will enable you to see how your new pagesdevelopment means that mobile-friendly websites gain perform. Use this data to guide your design.higher search rankings when shoppers look online forproducts or services. • T est it again and again. Before going “live,” test your new website on a variety of smartphonesWhile some early reports questioned the impact, as well as different mobile carriers. It’s betterlater evidence suggested otherwise. One small survey that you discover any design flaws – before yourconducted four weeks after the change noted that customers do.mobile-friendly websites received 32% more organic orunpaid mobile traffic than sites that didn’t display well When you’re ready to optimize your site for mobileon mobile devices.3 And in a study of more than 50,000 use, give us a call. We can help. nwebsites a month after the changes kicked in, StoneTemple Consulting found mobile-friendly sites gained inthe rankings while non mobile-friendly URLs dropped.4The good news? Optimizing your site for mobile usersisn’t rocket science. Here are a few tips on how toaccomplish it:1 It’s Official: Google Says More Searches Now on Mobile than on Desktop, Searchengineland.com, May 5, 20152 How Loading Time Affects Your Bottom Line, kissmetrics.com 3 G oogle’s Mobile Update: Data from 4 Weeks Out, May 19, 2015, s360.dk4 Google’s ‘Mobilegeddon’ Was a Big Deal, After All, July 15, 2015, wsj.com ISSUE 03 | 2015 05

YOUR INVITATION TO FREE WEBINAR TR AININGReady, Set, Grow! Presented by Kate Dunn Director of InfoTrends’Proven Lead Generationand Customer Retention Business Development GroupStrategies for 2016Date: Tuesday, November 10Time: 10 AM PT/11 AM MT/12 PM CT/1 PM ETJoin us for a one-hour FREE webinar for powerful tips and proven ideas to setyour 2016 marketing planning on a path for growth. The session will be presentedby Kate Dunn, an award-winning leader in relevant, cross-channel marketing.You’ll learn: • What 88% of SMBs say is most important• F our steps all marketers must take when for driving growth . . . and how you can make sure it’s in your marketing plan planning a lead generation campaign to multiply sales opportunities • “ Go where they are, and be where they come”• T op tactics for customer retention that save strategies to nurture leads that deliver 47% higher average order values than non-nurtured ones time and money and inspire long-term loyaltyGo to: Getreadytogrow.com today, and register to reserve your seat!