Brand and Capture

Are You Making the Switch from Outbound to Inbound Marketing?

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The pervasive presence and overwhelming influence of social media in our daily lives is forcing business owners to change their marketing strategies or face extinction. Today's marketing climate is reminiscent of the computer revolution that separated inflexible old-schoolers from forward-thinking risk-takers. Business dinosaurs who clung doggedly to their typewriters and fax machines quickly succumbed, choked by the dust as their more flexible, forward-thinking peers stampeded past. The advent of mobile phones and then cell phones marked another critical turning point in the evolution of business marketing. Today, social media has pushed U.S. business to another crossroads that is destined to change the face of business marketing.

For decades, marketing strategies have relied on trade shows, seminars, email blasts, internal cold calls, telemarketing and advertising to generate leads and attract customers. Collectively referred to as outbound marketing, these marketing techniques focus on blasting your message OUT to huge numbers of consumers in the hopes of connecting with a few. The problem today is that consumers have become pretty savvy about blocking those attempts to connect. From telephone answering machines to computer spam filters to commercial-less Tivo and Sirius, consumers have become adept at avoiding outbound marketing ploys. Despite the fact that most companies still devote nearly 90% of their budgets to outbound marketing, it has become today's dinosaur. Don't get me wrong, there's still room for mixing in outbound techniques as part of an overall marketing campaign. But the days of 100% outbound marketing are rapidly approaching extinction.

The ever-increasing availability, accessibility and mobility of computer connectivity through smartphones, tablets and notepads have shifted consumer interest to Internet-based social media. The universal popularity of Facebook and Twitter combined with omnipresent cell phones and America's love of texting has transformed communication and consumer expectations. Consumers are no longer content to wait for an email response to a question or problem. Twitter has ramped up the importance of immediacy in business-consumer relations. In a recent Time magazine article, a columnist tracked response time to a customer complaint. When email response was at 48 hours and counting, he Tweeted about his problem and received a response within 2 hours.

To catch the attention of today's consumer, marketing strategies must now focus on interactive social media that lure consumers IN to their websites. Savvy marketers are spending their marketing capital on social media websites like Facebook and LinkedIn. They're creating blogs, Twitter accounts and YouTube videos to appeal to today's constantly plugged-in consumer. Called inbound marketing, these social media marketing venues are the wave of the future -- and the future is now!

Are you making the switch? We can help with the transition.

Photo credit: slworking2

Is Direct Mail Marketing Dead? Not If You Do It Right

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Though direct mail pieces are historically considered relatively low-conversion marketing initiatives, powerful direct mail design can make all the difference between an effective campaign and a dud.

Develop Your Message

Direct mail design allows for creativity.  In fact, it depends upon innovation to be effective.  However, your audience should still recognize that the direct mail is coming from you or, more importantly, that your brand or message is not being diluted or obscured for the sake of a one-time mailer.

This means that the basics of your brand, such as logo, tagline or other core messaging, should be present even if they’re not at the forefront.  A direct mail piece should be unique, but you’re making too much of an investment on any major direct mail initiative to be wholly experimental.  Determine your message and goals first, rather than winging it.  

Working Within a Budget

Direct mail design is largely dependent on your available campaign budget, but even a small budget need not constrain your messaging.  Postcards and fliers, for example, are both low-budget options, but they might not speak to the presence or prestige of your brand.

So, when using these or similar forms of inexpensive, direct mail pieces, it’s all the more important to have a talented designer on hand since you don’t want the mailings to look cheap or unprofessional.  That might cause more harm to your brand than good.

Track Your Interactions

A well-designed direct mail campaign should yield some immediate feedback from your audience.  Direct mail pieces should be designed with feedback in mind.  In other words, does the design facilitate comments, reactions, questions, discussions or otherwise call the reader to action?  Plus, no matter how basic or complex your design, are these actions easily trackable?

With a direct email campaign, many online interactions can be traced.  Offline direct mailers can refer potential clients to your website, thereby also yielding a trackable response.

What are your experiences with direct mail marketing? Do you think it's old-school and irrelevant?

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Outbound Marketing

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So we're constantly badmouthing outbound marketing and pushing inbound marketing. You know what I'm talking about - the relentless TV ads, direct mail and spam that gets delivered to your door 24/7. It's not all bad though. Some of it makes us laugh, and the rest, well...

The Good

OK, so it's not the e-Trade baby in the picture. You want me to get sued? You know the ad(s) - unbelievably funny. Kid talks smack with fellow golfer after a serious "Skins Beat-Down". "Dude, grab the reins. Get some analytics..." I howl every time I see that ad. I'm a total sucker for the talking baby gimmic. No, I don't use e-Trade, not since 9-11, but what the heck, this is advertising money well spent. Bring the ads, e-Trade.

The Bad

People who finish each other's sentences in TV ads drive me nuts. IBM does this all the time, as does Microsoft. C'mon man! Do something original. And Apple, OK we get that PC's suck. Why not show us some good stuff from your new Mac's or at least do something different. These ads hurt my head and make me wish I had a TIVO.

The Ugly

Every since the founding days of Nigeria I've been getting these e-mails asking me to open a bank account for some guy who supposedly lives there and can't do it himself. OK fine, I did that once, so why am I still getting these e-mails? I'm beginning to think it might be a scam.

Marketing Take-Away

If you're going to do outbound marketing, at least make it clever!

What are your favorite outbound marketing good, and ugly nominees? Maybe we should have a poll, or like me are you sick and tired of polls too?