The Nuts and Bolts of a Campaign

First: Direct Mail
The first piece of the campaign is a direct mail piece, usually a postcard or envelope package. The direct mail piece should include a clear call to action.

Second: Response
An example of a call to action might be to direct the recipient to a PURL:
Visit www.janesmith/easygardening.com to download your free guide / receive $25 off / view our presentation / learn more

From there, the role of the PURL is two-fold. First, it provides more information on your special offer. Second, it asks information-gathering questions of your customers and prospects, capturing information that can quickly be delivered to your sales team for follow up.

Third: Email
Now, email joins the process. As prospects visit their PURL, you can gather email addresses, opening another communications channel.

Fourth: Analyze

The key to success in cross-media marketing--or any marketing--lies in testing all of the variables. Empirical proof is the only way you can separate theory from facts.

Direct Mail
The role of direct mail in a cross-media campaign is to introduce prospects to your offer and drive them to the PURL. Blanketing the marketplace with a generic direct mail campaign is very costly; targeted direct mail makes it an affordable and effective strategy for small and mid-sized businesses.

Direct mail success is built on three legs: the mailing list, the creative package and the offer. Of these, the mailing list is the most important. When creating your direct mail package, consider:

• Always have a relevant offer in your direct mail that has value.
• The appeal, or reason you give the reader to visit their personal website, is the most important element in your mailing. Make sure this message is conveyed loud and clear.
• What you say is more important than how you say it.
• Tell the reader specifically what you want them to do, how to do it, and why.
• Appeal to the reader’s self interests and give a compelling reason to ACT NOW!
• Write in an informal me-to-you style, using simple words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
• Count the number of times you refer to the reader and the number of times you refer to the writer. The “you” and “your” references should outnumber the “we” and “our” references by a margin of at least 2 to 1.
• A letter with a reply envelope almost always outperforms a postcard. Test it for yourself.

DIRECT MAIL FACTS

48% read mail to unwind.

42% look to mail for financial savings.

64% order from mail received within the last month.

Source: “The Role of Mail,” United States Postal Service

PURLs

The key to an effective cross-media campaign is to personalize the message. While the process of creating PURLs can be accomplished manually to create one or two landing pages, special software is required for larger projects.

The goal of your PURL is to provide each customer with more complete and relevant information, while excluding content which is not relevant to their needs. A url with the recipient's name is also attention-grabbing.

Some examples:

• A travel agent may provide a PURL to their customers centered on the type of travel they prefer – adventure, cruise, Europe, etc.
• A web design firm may want to provide a PURL to conduct a survey of the company’s website needs.
• A heating and air conditioning company may want to provide customers with a PURL featuring a recommended maintenance schedule for their particular equipment along with energy savings tips and new products of interest.
• A telemarketing company may want to provide a PURL for prospects to visit their website and view an industry specific demonstration of their calling procedure.

The PURL is prominently featured in a personalized direct mail piece – anything from a postcard to a three dimensional mailing – and the recipient is driven to his or her own personal web page.

Once there, the content on the landing page can be anything you want it to be – a product demonstration, a video infomercial, useful information, a survey or questionnaire or a special incentive/offer. Just remember to keep the content personal and relevant. Creating a landing page with relevant messaging can increase conversion by 2.3 times, and according to Jupiter research, relevant campaigns increase revenues up to 18 times.

Remember, the landing page is simply another stepping stone on the path you have laid out for your customer or prospect. Its purpose is not to complete the sale but to lead the recipient toward the sale by persuading them to take a specific next step. It’s essential that you make it easy for your customers to enter their contact information by providing pre-filled forms and a clear sequence of requested actions. 

One of the biggest advantages of using PURLs is information-gathering. This information can be used in future campaigns to tailor both the message and offer to the unique recipient. PURLs also give you the ability to track responses in real time, which means you can monitor the effectiveness of your campaign and schedule a time frame for the next wave of communications including any necessary changes. At the same time, PURLs help you to clean up your customer database since online forms allow recipients to update their contact information.

Email

Email marketing is growing in popularity because it can be personalized and it has a low cost per touch. Its wide reach, convenience and low price make it the perfect fit for any cross-media campaigns.

Email is typically integrated into the marketing process as the vehicle for a follow-up “thank you” for doing what you’ve asked of them – visiting their personalized site. Email is also used as follow-up to any non-responders to provide them with another opportunity to respond. Email also boosts response rates if anyone feels challenged to re-key a PURL into their web browser from a direct mail piece.

Testing & Analyzing Results

The key to success in cross-media marketing--or any marketing--lies in testing all of the variables. Empirical proof is the only way you can separate theory from facts.

Testing can reveal large differences in results caused by differences in copy, your call to action, your mailing lists, as well as other factors. As a result, it is not unusual to double or triple the effectiveness of your marketing campaign through testing. And while trends come and go and the pulse of the public is ever changing, there is one rule that never changes: test everything on a small scale before you spend money on a large scale.

Next Steps
The distinguishing factor of a cross-media campaign is integrating these strategies so they support each other with consistent messaging and timing, rather than using each media channel independently. By combining direct mail, email and PURLs into one integrated campaign, you increase your return on investment--better response and higher conversion rates.

When you combine the precise targeting abilities of direct mail, the attention-grabbing relevance of a personalized url, and the immediacy and convenience of email, small businesses are experiencing dramatic improvements in their response rates and increased sales.

To discuss PURLs, direct mail lists, design or copywriting, or other cross-media marketing topics, contact us at Allegra Okemos at 517.333.0713. We're here to help grow your business as your printing and marketing partner.