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OK, you got
point. The next thing to know about campaigns is that there are two different types of marketing campaigns. There is campaign to get your customers to keep buying from you so they don’t go elsewhere. And then there is campaign to get new business in.
Once you have gotten new business in, then those customers (that once were prospects) get repeat-customer campaign.
Where does one start?
The first thing you should do when starting out and thinking of a marketing campaign is to start with your own customers.
Say you’ve been in business 5-10 years and have hit a plateau; start by mailing out to your own customers that have been with you and already know you are good. And then once you get your income up a little bit, start second campaign to market to new customers. But then, if you have money just figure out how to do both. Don’t go out to eat quite as much. Don’t buy that new Lexus (yet!). Don’t invest in that piece of real estate right now. Put your money back in your business.
If you have made all your money with your business, well then that business is goose that is laying golden egg (for eventual Lexus), so put that money back in your business first. Go ahead and spend newly earned money on both new customer and customer retention campaigns.
Sure, be selfish; you earned it but just be patient. Wait until your marketing is really paying off and you couldn’t stop influx of business if you tried.
Above, I am speaking to someone that has gotten very comfortable in their own income and doesn’t necessarily want to cut their own income to grow their business. But if you have a new business and really only have twelve customers, then you have to do a campaign to get new customers. And it costs money; it will be a big expense.
So buy a used computer on Ebay. Most of $10,000 you borrowed from your dad to start up should be spent on marketing. Work out of your bedroom on a used computer, then sell and deliver your product or service. When you’ve sold plenty. then you pay yourself (when Dad’s paid off and you actually have money).
To get back to what we were discussing: just mail to list for a while – and rotate through it. It will pay off, I promise.
Who do you mail to?
Say you have a product that only goes into and works in an American made car. And say that you notice that customers you have are between ages of 40 to 60 years old. Well, find out from a list company how many people in a ten-mile radius or five-mile radius there are that fit that description in your area. Or, look at your own customer base and find out where they live and then find out how many other people fit that demographic in their area.
That is your list!
OK, so you get with a list company and there are 20,000 identities with that demographic. The catch is you can only afford 1/3rd or 1/8th of that to start with.
Fine! Take 5000 identities from that 20,000 and start. Divide your campaign into three-week segments. Mail out 1/3rd one week, 1/3rd next week, 1/3rd following week. You can mail same postcard to all segments of list. The campaign aspect is that on mailing 2,3,4 and so on all your postcards should look similar. Not same, but similar. You could do a three-card, four-card, five-card campaign. Look and feel should match. Your logo is in same place each time, your color scheme is same, etc.
You have got to come up with your look and feel beforehand. I suggest that you design and mail first one and check for results. You can tweak it, but choose your basic colors FIRST. Do a little research. Which colors communicate to you most? Be your own survey person. Love your mail piece. Don’t sign off on anything a designer came up with if you don’t love it. You’ll imbue it with results. It’ll pull better if you love it…sounds nutty, but it’s true.
One thing about campaigns is that you have to commit to a campaign. Commit. Wherever you buy your marketing services from, commit to a campaign. Let them design all five pieces at once. I don’t suggest printing them all at once. Tweak design on others if you need to as you go.
Consumers rarely get multiple postcards from a business. Yet it is such a brilliant idea. When I receive multiple postcards, I take a look. I think, “Hmmm, these guys are still contacting me.” That shows persistence, it shows credibility. You are building credibility with a campaign. That is point. So, hit ‘em again, Sam.
A campaign is mailing to same people over and over and over again. The point is you want to hit your prospects with different communication about same thing or hit them with different products with same look and feel. The rest will come. A great movie had a great quote that rings true through and through, “Build it and they will come.” However, people usually think that it means put a building there and people will come. Or they build a web site and expect people to come. No, you have to drive customers to your business. So, “Build it and they will come” should actually have been “Build your marketing campaign and they will come”. Because what you are building with a marketing campaign is credibility. You are building your business through communication. You are communicating consistently, so much that people will believe you (credibility) and they will respond; they will come, they will spend.
Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com.
