HARTY ADVISOR. Drip Marketing: Keep the conversation going!

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1 HARTY ADVISOR Drip Marketing: Keep the conversation going! also in this issue: A/B Testing: Gaining Insight Through Dividing and Analyzing Use Print to Boost Your Online Presence

2 Keep the Conversation Going! You have a great product. You have a great marketing message. So what does it take to convert a prospect into a customer? Sometimes it s simply a matter of time and exposure.

3 photos dreamstime.com This is the philosophy behind drip marketing. Send a postcard on Monday. Blast an on Thursday. Mail a marketing letter the following week. By continually putting your message in front of people, you stay top of mind. When they re ready, they ll pull the trigger. It s not just about staying visible. It s also about keeping your competitors at bay. It s a common marketing adage that customers can only keep three to five brands in their heads at one time. The more visible you are, the less room there is for your competitors. What makes a successful drip marketing campaign? Repetition. You can offer discounts and promotions, but most importantly, it s about building relationships and creating conversation. This means the content must be meaningful. It must be something your customers and prospects actually want to read. To do this, you need solid content that positions your company and your brand. Success with Drip Marketing One firm used drip marketing to turn its zero response (yes, zero response) marketing letter into a campaign with 1700% ROI. First, the company scrapped its traditional one-page marketing letter with the dry, boring introductory paragraph, service pitch, and standard closing, and replaced it with a more engaging marketing pitch. Then it followed up with a phone call from a live person. Ten days later, it sent a second letter. The total cost of the campaign $2,600. The results? The company closed on $90,000 in sales within six weeks. That s a 17,000% return on investment! Of course, it wasn t just the drip marketing that caused the success. There was a change in strategy too. But part of that change involved adding the drip marketing approach of multiple contacts over time. Drip marketing can take many forms, including postcards, newsletters, marketing letters, and . Regardless of the media used, the goal is the same. Engage your customers. Position your brand. Foster trust and credibility. By doing so, you will stay top of mind, keep your competitors in the corner, and boost your sales at the same time. Best Practices Want to see what drip marketing can do for you? Here are some best practices to keep in mind: 1. Focus on content. Provide real, measurable value. If it doesn t provide value, it won t create customer engagement just clutter. 2. Be consistent. Drip marketing is about consistency. Make a commitment. Create a marketing schedule. Then stick to it. 3. Follow up. You can drip, drip, drip, but at some point, you need to give a call to action. Follow up by phone, , or other media. 3

4 A/B Testing: Gaining Insight Through Dividing and Analyzing If you want more results from your direct mail or other marketing efforts, you need to continually refine your campaigns over time. Test new graphics. Test new messaging. Test new offers. That means A/B testing.

5 While A/B testing sounds complicated, it s not. It s splitting the mailing into two groups, modifying one variable at a time, and seeing which performs best. By continually testing one variable against another, you can identify those elements that consistently tend to produce the best results. Case Study: Postcard Testing For example, a company with a customer database of 5000 people might decide to create a postcard campaign with a discount code. It might design the postcard, then modify the call to action to test the effectiveness of two different sets of text. To 2,500 people, it mails the postcard that says, Offer ends this Tuesday! Use code A1. To another 2,500 people, it sends the same postcard but with a different call to action that says, Limited time offer! Use code A2. The company then tracks which group, A1 or A2, has the highest number of people redeem the offer. Say the postcard with code A1 has a 5% response rate (125 of the 2,500 people in that group used the code to buy a product) and the postcard using the code B1 has a 3% response rate (75 of the recipients used the code to buy a product). This tells the company which call to action is the most effective with its target audience. Most likely, it will use that same call to action in the future. You can use this approach to test every element of your campaign. Use it to test graphics. Background colors. Starbursts and drop dates. The more you test, the more you can refine your campaigns for peak effectiveness. Case Study: Newsletter Testing One healthcare provider sending patient newsletters did A/B testing over a period of years. It assigned each article a unique tracking code paired to the household receiving the newsletter. As those households were tracked through the patient database, the healthcare provider was able to see which articles had the most impact. The first year, the provider s ROI was $62 for every dollar spent on the newsletter. The next year, that rose to $78. The next year, it rose to $88. Clearly, tracking was worth the effort! How to Choose the Split When it comes to choosing the split, you can divide the campaign evenly or select out a smaller portion to use as a control group. The key is to select names and addresses randomly so that each split is a mirror image of the other and includes enough names so that the results are statistically significant. Then pay attention to what you learn and use it to knock your next campaign out of the park. Need help? Talk to us about what A/B splits make the most sense for your next campaign. The key to A/B testing is to select names and addresses randomly so that each split is a mirror image of the other and includes enough names so that the results are statistically significant. photos dreamstime.com 5

6 Use Print to Boost Your Online Presence

7 Everywhere you look these days, you re bombarded with data about how much money marketers are putting into their Internet presences. marketing. Web site development. Search engine optimization. Banner ads. Social networking. This creates the impression that print is irrelevant, but in fact, the opposite is true. Don t let the ubiquity of Internet data fool you. Print has power, including the power to drive online activity. One of the most effective ways to build an online presence is to use print. For example, a survey of 2,251 senior executives, the BE: USA 2008/2009: The Media Survey of the United States Business Elite found that this elite group was heavily influenced to increase their Web traffic as a result of print. Nearly one in four (23%) was motivated to visit a marketer s Web site as a result of a local newspaper ad, rising to 38% who were motivated by a magazine ad. 1 Here are some more eye-catching data: A 2008 Magazine Publishers of America study reconfirms prior studies that show including URLs in magazine ads drives readers to advertiser Web sites. The biggest lifts came in the women s service, home and travel categories, where ads featuring Web addresses were 98%, 103% and 186% more likely to boost Web site visits, respectively. 2 Seaport Village, a San Diego retail hub, saw a 26% rise in traffic to its Web site right after city officials launched a holiday direct mail campaign steering visitors to the shopping center. 3 A USPS/comScore survey found that people who receive a catalog account for 22% of Web site traffic and 37% of money spent at retailers Web sites. In fact, shoppers who received a catalog were twice as likely to make an online purchase at the retailer s online store. 4 What does this mean for you? Print matters. When looking for strategies to boost your Web traffic, get print into the mix. Send a direct mail piece. Use the space on your catalogs, brochures and even invoices to advertise your Web address, Twitter ID and other URLs. Make sure important Web addresses are in your trade and consumer advertising. Find excuses to get them in front of your customers. Take advantage of every opportunity. Print is highly effective for driving all types of consumer and business behavior, including building your online presence. Use it! Print has power, including the power to drive online activity. One of the most effective ways to build an online presence is to use print. photos dreamstime.com internet_sales_pg2.html?cat=3 7

8 Earn a chance to win an Apple - ipad with Retina display! Please join us for a Lunch & Learn session of your choice or take a plant tour of our 70,000 sq. ft. facility and you will be entered into a drawing for the latest generation ipad with Retina display. Topics to choose from: How to Generate More Leads How to Grow your Business in the New Economy Multi-Channel Marketing Plant Tour Customized Session Go to your personalized website at harty5.com/georgeplatt to select a topic and a date. When you complete your plant tour or Lunch and Learn session you will be entered into the drawing that will be selected on February 28, James Street P.O. Box 324 New Haven, CT Phone: (203) Fax: (203) Finally, data-driven printing and direct mail services from can do people who match your sense of urgency and guarantee your peace of mind. About this issue Printed on our HP Indigo 7000 digital color press on 100 lb. Chorus Art Digital Silk Text visit us at: