5 Keys to Exceptional Marketing. Delivra 2012

Transcription

1 5 Keys to Exceptional Marketing Delivra 2012

2 2 marketing continues to be one of the most powerful and measurable marketing tools at your disposal. With the right tools and approach, your organization can expand from a simple communication platform to an engaging marketing channel used to provide valuable information and increase revenue. Whether you are conducting an audit of your marketing program or just getting started with your first campaign, it is vitally important to make sure you are covering the fundamentals. That's why we have created this five-part series called 5 Keys to Exceptional Marketing. The five topics covered in this series include: 1. Integration 2. Design 3. Content 4. Segmentation 5. Analytics Each paper is brief, to the point, and filled with statistics and tips to help you maximize your marketing results. Read one at a time or download the entire series. Either way, find out if your marketing program is built to be exceptional.

3 3 Integration "Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit. William Pollard Start With the End in Mind Building a successful marketing program will give your organization a wealth of information. You must have a place to store, organize and use that information in order to maximize your marketing investment and boost your ROI. The best way to capture this information in a way that is useful to your entire organization is to integrate it with your central database. You might have powerful CRM software like Salesforce or an all-encompassing system like Netsuite. Whatever your system, your goals are to maintain the integrity of your data, save time and put your information into a usable format for decision making. Integration of your information is the straightest path to accomplishing those goals. Two Primary Options Feeling a bit overwhelmed by this idea of integration? You're not alone. 94% of marketers cited a need for improvement in integrating data with other systems. You can get a leg up on your competition in one of two ways. Your first option is to see if your Service Provider (ESP) has an out-of-the-box integration with your database.

4 4 Ask your ESP (or prospective ESP) if they have an integration solution for your current database. If you are using a mainstream system and don't have a lot of custom development needs, you are ready to go. For those of you that can't find such a solution, there is still hope! Your second option is to have a custom system built to suit your needs. It is important to make sure that your ESP has an API that enables you to perform custom integration. It is important to note that this route does cost more than an out-of-the-box solution and requires additional developer resources. However, the benefits of seamless integration are very valuable. Some ESPs are positioned to provide the developer resources needed so be sure to ask. Benefits of Integrated Data Once your data is integrated, your organization will see even greater benefits to your marketing plan. First, you will save valuable time avoiding manual importing and exporting of lists. Integration with your CRM program means your sales and marketing teams can easily share this information. Timely sales communication based on marketing results allows you to capitalize on your lead generation efforts. Furthermore, combining your and sales data provides an opportunity to further segment with more effective targeted messages. Targeted communication increases conversion success. While the prospect of integration might seem like a challenge, the benefits, including jumping ahead of your struggling competition, make it a worth the effort. Want your integration questions answered? Give one of our expert consultants a call at and tell us about your marketing. (And in case you were wondering, the consultation is free.)

5 5 Design The right design for your marketing campaign can make the difference between having your s read or immediately deleted. Design is not just about the looking nice. It should also take into account the variety of platforms and devices used by your subscribers. Design Essentials There are some elements to your design that are essential to campaign success. First, you need to provide HTML and plain text options. Spam filters don't always like HTML only s. Also, mobile device users often view plain text options. You likely have 10-20% of your subscribers, if not more, viewing your s on a mobile device. Rendering tools can help you determine if your audience is viewing from a mobile device, PC or Mac and even tell you the mail service being used. Want a jump on your competition? Did you know that 58% of marketers are not designing s to render properly on smartphones? Next, watch your images and video. Don't make your s completely dependent on images or video. Subscribers might view a text-only version and they need proper context to understand the . Images and video are very powerful but should not be the only option available. Your subject line is the next area of focus. Craft it as a headline and make your readers interested in the body of the . At a minimum, avoid spammy words like "Free" or "Opportunity".

6 6 Advance Design Ideally, you want to accomplish more than simply avoiding spam filters and proper formatting. With a little bit of attention and some help from a good ESP ( service provider), you can take your creative work to the next level. Design with a goal in mind. What are you trying to accomplish with this particular communication? How will you measure your results? Does your design support this result? It should be obvious to your subscribers that s are coming from your organization. Maintain your brand integrity by incorporating your logo, colors and other elements distinctive of your brand. Rather than creating from scratch every , invest in a few mobile-friendly templates. Your focus can then shift to content creation, testing and analytics rather than creating a new design every time. Create a call-to-action (CTA) with every . A call-to-action doesn't have to be asking for a sale or donation. It could be simply asking your reader to click on a link for the full article or viewing a photo gallery of your latest event. Don't bury important links or your call-to-action. Make them obvious and be clear on what you're asking your reader to do. Testing is also highly recommended. A/B testing can help you decide on the best CTA. Testing could include wording, color or placement. Designing your campaign doesn't have to be time consuming or require you to shop for a creative team. Explore your internal resources and ask your ESP if they have advice or could even do this work for you. design can easily pay for itself over time by improving deliverability, readability and conversion rates. Want your design questions answered? Give one of our expert consultants a call at and tell us about your marketing. (And in case you were wondering, the consultation is free.)

7 7 Content Sending an is easy. Getting your s read is extremely difficult. You have put a lot of work to gain a subscriber. Now it's time to get your read and move that reader toward a specific behavior. The way to do this is to deliver highly relevant content to each subscriber. In a recent benchmark report, 69% of marketers listed delivering highly relevant content as a top objective for their organization. So how do you create content that matters to each subscriber and direct them toward a specific action? Use a combination of subscriber data, content variety and call-to-action techniques. Try the following 15 tips and tactics to energize your content strategy: Using Data to Craft Your Message Dynamically personalize content by filling specific fields with subscriber information such as first name. Send s based on subscribers' stage in your sales cycle. Set-up triggers in your database based on behavior to past s. If someone clicked through to a link on preparing fish for dinner, their next might relate to a sale on fillet knives. Allow subscribers to specify their own preferences. This way, they only receive messages on topics they have decided are interesting. Determine your five most popular s of the last year. Now write more like those! The right design for your marketing campaign can make the difference between having your s read or immediately deleted. Design is not just about the looking nice. It should also take into account the variety of platforms and devices used by your subscribers.

8 8 Content Creation Try video in your campaign and see what kind of feedback you receive. Behind the scenes video can make a subscriber feel like an insider. Ask your subscribers in a survey about the kind of content they would like to receive. Provide a few choices and an open-ended question. Create an autoresponder if you have an series you would like a certain group to always receive. For example, new subscribers or first-time donors. Write down frequently asked questions and make sure you create a piece of content around each of them. Include customer case studies in your content. It makes your customer fell good and gives social proof to your subscribers. Creating Results Your subject line is your headline. Pique the interest of your reader or be very clear on how your will help. Avoid spammy words like "Free" and "Hurry". Spam filters will kill your conversions. Provide a link for your call-to-action in every . Make it easy for your reader to understand the next step. For lengthy content, keep your short and link to a descriptive landing page or blog post. Make sure that the sender is a trusted source or brand. Subscribers won't open an from someone they don't know. Combine all of your resources to create compelling content. It's the only way to reach your marketing goals. Want your content questions answered? Give one of our expert consultants a call at and tell us about your marketing. (And in case you were wondering, the consultation is free.)

9 9 Segmentation Segmented s increase the chance that your will be opened. It's that simple. list segmentation is the ability to put your subscribers into categories. For example, you could divide your list by geography, industry, purchase behavior or any other criteria you have captured. Impact On Results Three of your most important measurables are open rate, click through rate and unsubscribes. Ultimately, all of your measurables should be tied to revenue. Dividing your list into segments provides a chance to improve the success of all three metrics and increase revenue. In fact, a recent survey of marketers found the following results: 39% of marketers segmenting their s found higher open rates 34% improved relevance 28% experienced lower unsubscribe rates 24% experienced greater revenue Get An Edge On Your Competition In MarketingSherpa's Marketing Benchmark Report, 32% of marketers listed segmenting their database as a top objective. However, 95% cite a need for improving list segmentation. That tells you that, in spite of its importance, a large percentage of your competition is still struggling with effective segmentation. The opportunity for you to differentiate your s is tremendous.

10 10 Once your list is properly segmented, your message, competing to stand out in a sea of competition, will be tailored to a particular reader segment. Rather than writing a generic message in hopes of appealing to your entire list, you can have messages that appeal to those suffering through a harsh winter in the northeast and those enjoying a sunny winter in the southwest simultaneously. How To Segment Your List B-to-B Focus Segmentation can also be based on your prospects status in your sales funnel. Your list might grow through blog subscribers, lead generating white papers and a request-for-demonstration form on your website. Imagine that your research has shown you that the likelihood of a sale increases at each stage of your inbound lead generation funnel. Your research has also shown that asking for a sale too soon can remove a prospect from your funnel completely. Rather than blasting all subscribers with a sales message about your latest product offering, segmenting your list can move them to the most appropriate next step. Your list segments could include three stages of your inbound lead generation funnel: Blog Subscribers luke-warm leads White Paper Downloads warm leads Request a Demo Form hot leads Subsequent s to these groups are designed to move them further along in the process without requesting too much too soon. B-to-C Focus For businesses selling to consumers, your list can be segmented by a completely different set of factors. You could choose to segment your list by purchase behavior. For instance, you could send s based on items purchased, month purchased or gender of purchaser. In addition, if a purchase is more likely to occur at a certain time of day (perhaps evening or weekend hours), you could schedule your s accordingly.

11 11 Conclusion Whether you have a product, service, or donors that support your organization, all subscribers are not created equal. Segmenting those subscribers so that they receive information that is relevant and appropriate is the best way to connect with your audience. Want your list segmenting questions answered? Give one of our expert consultants a call at and tell us about your marketing. (And in case you were wondering, the consultation is free.)

12 12 Analytics Analytics allow you to measure the success of your marketing. While other webbased marketing platforms are debating how to measure ROI, analytics tell you who is interested in your content, who opened your and what they did next. It s important to establish goals and benchmarks in order to accurately measure your campaign performance. Specific industry benchmarks allow you to set goals and compare yourself to the competition. Once you have gathered enough data of your own, you can measure performance against your own established benchmarks. Analytics can help you see what is working and where you can improve. There are five important areas that you will want to begin tracking and analyzing immediately. Once you are consistently tracking these metrics, you can begin digging deeper into your data to gain more valuable information. Open Rates Ideally, open rates track whether our was actually opened instead of simply deleted. Open rates can gauge the effectiveness of your subject lines. With so many s, readers need to be convinced that yours is important. Never be misleading with your headline. This can not only annoy your subscribers but also corrupt your true open rate. They could also measure the authority of the brand or sender. Make sure the name of the sender is know and trusted by the recipient.

13 13 List Size List size is an easy place to start. Although you don t want to grow your list with people that are not your target market, list size can give you a quick gauge as to whether your content is interesting to your audience. You can also test a variety of free downloads or incentives in order to learn how to grow your list. Unsubscribe Rate Analyze your unsubscribe rate carefully. An increasing unsubscribe rate could mean your s have grown stagnant. However, don t jump to this conclusion too soon. Have you had a recent price change or more clearly defined your target market? Unsubscribes might be from people that aren t actually your ideal customer. Not a bad result for your marketing efforts. Click-through Rate (CTR) CTR is another metric that should be analyzed carefully. CTR measures whether your recipient clicked on a link in your and is extremely valuable information. Just make sure you know what you are measuring. A blog post summary with a link to the full version measures whether your content is engaging. On the other hand, a clear sales offer with a link to a purchase page measures the effectiveness of your offer. CTR will likely differ widely among various categories of .

14 14 Conversion Rate Conversion rates let you know whether the recipient completed the desired action. When you set a goal at the beginning of an campaign, your most desired result is likely measured by your conversion rate. Conversion is where you measure whether someone actually downloaded your ebook, purchased your product or donated to your cause. If your CTR is high and your conversion is low on the same campaign, explore your landing page or checkout procedure to see if the problem might exist outside of your . Analytics are incredibly powerful tools. They give the unbiased feedback that all marketers need to generate the most effective messages possible. Want your analytics questions answered? Give one of our expert consultants a call at and tell us about your marketing. (And in case you were wondering, the consultation is free.)