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I disagree with Hubspot's Brian Halligan on direct mail.
I disagree with Hubspot's Brian Halligan on the importance of direct mail as a marketing tool.
Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Brian Halligan and the Hubspot product. I even introduced him yesterday at the SSWBN's Communication Revolution Conference yesterday. But, during Brian's keynote, he refered to direct mail as JUNK MAIL! Ouch, I originally came from the world of print design so that always hurts a little.
I felt some vindication when I came across an article in All About ROI Magazine, here's an excerpt:
"From Abacus’ analysis, we’ve found that customers who receive a mail piece along with regular emails have response rates 32 percent to 130 percent higher than customers who only receive email communications. This indicates the effectiveness of an integrated marketing campaign that combines direct mail and email."
To read the whole article visit: http://www.allaboutroimag.com/article/understanding-dna-new-consumer/1
I believe that a combination of many tactics or "channels", chosen by researching where your target audience likes to receive information and offers, is the way to achieve success today. Contacting your prospects regularly over time through those channels will produce positive results. It's offline and online working together.
How to come up with ideas for your blog articles.
I attended the SSWBN Communication Revolution Conference yesterday and the hot topics were blogs and content for website traffic. As you may know blogging is a great way to add relevant content to your website on a regular basis to boost traffic and page ranking in Google. But, what can you write about?
That's a tough question for many business owners and marketers. I have some ideas for you:
- Look for a recent article about your industry in print or online. You could just post a link to it or mention the magazine, but why not summarize the article in your own words, then state why you agree or disagree with the writer. If it's a complex topic that only industry insiders would understand, break it down for your audience and tell them how it affects them.
- How about a trend in your industry? If you were a financial planner is there a new type of investment that's hot, like gold has been, that you can write about. Tell your audience why you see the trend as good, or bad, for them.
- Is there a widely-held misconception about your job or profession? If you are an accountant, is there a misconception out there about what types of deductions can flag people for an IRS audit? Can you write an article that will educate or clarify these misconceptions for your audience? Sure you could.
- How about asking your sales team about common objections or hurdles they have to overcome when talking to a prospect. Is it cost, buy-in from execs, fear of change? By addressing issues like this in your blog you can ease the sales process along for your team.
There's no doubt that adding great content to your site on a regular basis help drive traffic. So, which of the above ideas will you use to write about your company today?
Happy typing...
Examples of e-newsletters that are working—and some that aren’t
I recently read this article on effective and ineffective newsletters and I thought it would be good to pass along...
Ode to the E-newsletter
Sherry Chigerhttp://bigfatmarketingblog.com/2010/04/27/ode-to-the-e-newsletter/?cid=nl_cm_report
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