In this day of e-mail overload, receiving a letter that isn’t a bill or junk mail can be a real treat at the end of a long day. You’ll open a hand-addressed, hand-stamped letter first, right? Marketers are figuring out that in many cases, personalizing their direct mail pieces can result in greater response rates and increased sales.

John Schulte, president and chairman of the National Mail Order Association, previously worked as the advertising and marketing director at a bridal gown store. He sent direct mail letters to newly engaged women, which were hand addressed and hand signed, and included an offer to receive a free gift in the store. The campaign resulted in a 20% response rate, he says, and customers said they opened the letter because it was hand addressed. “They thought that was special, and reflected that we were really interested in helping them,” he adds.

Personalization can be more expensive and time consuming to execute, so direct marketing experts suggest using it strategically; noting to use it on higher ticket items. These tactics, like employing handwritten notes for clients, will always elicit higher responses.

Employees at a North Carolina firm send one thank-you note per week through the mail to stay connected with clients. The thank-you note program has resulted in a greater percentage of repeat business and faster payments from those who have received notes.

Personalizing direct mail pieces can go far beyond a handwritten note. Here are some creative ways to use personalization in your campaigns.

1. Attach a sticky note

Mark Bodzin, an online advertising executive, headed a campaign at a former job consisting of a piece that looked like a torn-out page from a newspaper. Affixed to the upper right section of the newsprint was a sticky note handwritten with the target’s first name and a brief message. The response rate skyrocketed from 1-2% to 4.5% with personalization. He says, “It was such a powerful piece that I received letters from people asking if they knew me.”

2. Provide a useful, personalized service

If you’ve ever moved into a new town and had to figure out the basics all over again, such as finding Post Office™ locations, schools, hair salons and doctors, you know much work it can entail. Seattle-area healthcare provider The Everett Clinic, in conjunction with its advertising agency Frank Unlimited, recently launched a direct mail piece for families new to the area. The mailer is labeled with the family’s name and a highlighted driving route and distance from that home to the nearest clinic. The agency used a prominent search engine’s maps technology to help create the pieces, which are mailing to 1,500 recipients monthly, says agency principal Susana Cascais.

3. Make it funny

Everybody loves cartoons. That’s the philosophy behind CartoonLink, a Seattle firm that has produced cartoon-based direct mail programs for 30 years. The company creates cards and mailers imprinted with cartoons, and personalizes them by inserting the customer or prospect’s name into the cartoon caption. The company developed a subscriber acquisition campaign for a well-known advertising magazine, which delivered the highest gross response in four years and the highest payment-with-order in the publication’s history, according to CartoonLink president Stu Heinecke.  The offer included an 8″ x 10″ print of the cartoon for people wanting to frame it. “While most promotional mail gets screened away, recipients tend to treat ours as keepsakes,” he says. A campaign featuring cartoon greeting cards for an insurance company generated a 100% response rate, based on 1,200 prospects who agreed to meetings with sales reps in follow-up calls, Heinecke adds.

4. Use technology to streamline efforts

Real estate companies depend heavily on referrals and 1-to-1 marketing, so everything has to be personalized. “We wanted to create a product that had all the benefits of self-created direct mail pieces without the time and cost,” says Chad Rueffert, president of From Your Friends, a Colorado Springs–based marketing firm focused on the real estate industry.

The firm partners with local restaurants and attractions to create a monthly postcard featuring a discount offer at the venue. The real estate salesperson then uses an online design tool, provided by From Your Friends, to personalize the postcard by adding their photo, contact info, personal notes, a scanned signature, new listings, or detail on the local real estate market. Clients have shared that the program has increased sales, and that customers often call agents to thank them for the postcards and to offer new names for the mailing list, Rueffert says. Many of his real estate clients close three or four deals every year because of the program, he says.

Polly Traylor writes about business, technology and marketing from Golden, Colorado.

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10 Pro Tips for Writers Using Social Media

We recently covered 10 inspiring social networks for writers that can help you extend your influence and develop your content. But what about the mainstream networks? How do you successfully raise your profile and gain a following?

Six well-known authors and writers, who are experts in this type of personal branding, share their methods and suggestions on how to use social media to push yourself forward in the writing industry. Whether you’ve been using social media for a while or you’re just starting out, you might learn something new.

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1. Sign Up for the Big Networks

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It can be difficult to sift through all of the available social platforms and decide which ones to focus on; it helps if you think about what it is you want to achieve. If you’re looking to get your name as a writer out there, it makes sense to use the networks with the most users to boost your presence. That means Twitter and Facebook, for sure, but Tumblr and Google+ are also rising in popularity for writers.

Susan Orlean, New Yorker journalist and author of The Orchid Thief, looks at each platform as a different kind of party. “Twitter is a noisy cocktail party, with lots of chatting and quick interactions, a kind of casual free-for-all,” she says. “Facebook is a combination high school and college reunion and therapy group. Google+ I haven’t figured out yet.”

Twitter certainly seems to be the top go-to network for writers, and it’s incredibly useful. Meredith Hindley, historian and writer for various publications like The New York Times and Humanities, says, “It’s both social and a big RSS feed, which makes my information junkie heart happy.”

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2. Interact and Engage — Enthusiastically

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It’s easy to forget that part of successfully using social media is actually being social. While linking to things you like and adding commentary are part of the whole deal, it’s important to engage with followers in order to keep them. As a writer wanting to gain a following, you have to try to keep everyone interested in you.

John T. Edge, food writer, columnist for The New York Times and author of Truck Food, uses Twitter “like a madman” when he’s traveling. “I use it as a kind of diary to track things I saw, music I heard, food I ate.” Edge combines his genre with interesting tidbits that aren’t necessarily related to his writing. Your social media account doesn’t have to be all writing, all the time.

With Facebook, it’s all about pacing yourself. Allison Winn Scotch, author of the bestselling Time of My Life and the forthcoming The Song Remains the Same, says, “I think Facebook users get annoyed if you post too many status updates, so I’m careful to only post at most once a day, and more realistically, a few times a week.”

Make sure your personality shines through all platforms. Karen Palmer, author of the novels All Saints and Border Dogs, says that readers are drawn to a writer’s voice more than anything. “The most interesting folks are those with curious minds, oddball insights, passion and humor.”

Overall, it’s important to remember the golden rule. Tao Lin, author of Richard Yates and Eeeee Eee Eeee, makes sure to use social networks “without feeling like I’m doing things I wouldn’t want other people to do to me…or that I’m doing things that will alienate people who, based on experience, I like being friends with.”

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3. Minimize Self-Promotion

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Fight the urge to promote everything you write — your followers don’t need constant reminders that you’re a great writer.

Winn Scotch says, “What [readers] prefer is seeing who you really are and getting to know both your tone and your attitude. If they like what they read in that, they’ll often gravitate toward your books.” She also advises writers to think about what they like to see, and to avoid controversy. “I’m not a huge fan of reading divisive political statements in my feed, so I never do it myself.”

To minimize self-promotion, Edge suggests finding “a way to be honestly self-deprecating.” In the same vein, Lin posts things on Tumblr “that convey alienation, depression or loneliness in a non-’cry for help’ manner.” These methods might not work for you, but it shows that you should focus on specific topics to stop yourself from becoming your own worst advertiser.

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4. Consider Privacy and Comfort Levels

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You might be hesitant to join these global virtual communities in which your information and viewpoints are available to anyone, but it’s all about focusing on what you’re comfortable with in a public sphere.

“I found social media hard to navigate at first, because I’m a private person,” Hindley says, but she soon found topics she felt comfortable discussing, such as books, history and her writing process. “Every so often, you should review your tweets to see what you’ve been talking about. Ask yourself if you’re comfortable with the image you’re projecting. If not, make some adjustments.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Lin is very open about his contact information with those who follow him on social networks, and he even gave out his phone number when someone asked for it in an HTMLGIANT comment thread. “I’ve never had problems — that I can remember — from people having my contact information,” he says. However, proceed with caution.

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5. Find a Happy Medium

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Stay away from extremes when it comes to expressing yourself. “Your tweets don’t always have to be sunshine and rainbows,” Hindley says, “but if you’re constantly complaining or being a drama queen, people aren’t going to want to follow you.”

This is something to keep in mind not only for potential fans, but also for potential agents or editors. You should own your voice, but be professional.

Of course, it always helps to be interesting. No one will want to follow you if you’re saying or posting things that everyone else is saying or posting. Edge says, “I focus, as best I can, on stories that don’t usually get told.”

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6. Make Valuable Connections

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Use social media’s endless networking possibilities to your advantage. “Have fun with it and engage with other authors you admire,” says Winn Scotch. “I follow a slew of writers whom I don’t know personally but whose observations on pop culture, for example, I find funny as hell. And you never know where that connection can lead.” She says that those connections are important not just for aspiring authors, but for seasoned authors as well.

That said, it’s important to be somewhat selective when choosing your followers. “I also find that following too many people can lead to chaos in my feed,” Winn Scotch adds, “so I don’t follow everyone.”

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7. Keep Up Appearances

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Make sure you never let your accounts fall by the wayside. “Don’t neglect your profile,” Hindley says. “Fill it out in such a way that it looks like you have a little gravitas.”

In addition to posting regularly, update your Facebook profile picture or cover photo (every six months is a good time reference), change up your Twitter background and even consider paying for a premium Tumblr theme to spice things up. Show your followers that you’re active and you want to be using social media.

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8. Aspiring Writers vs. Seasoned Writers

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You may be wondering if there are different ways up-and-coming writers should use social media as opposed to those whose work is already established.

“Social media is an extension of your voice,” says Orlean. “For aspiring writers, it’s a chance to practice miniaturization — how to say something interesting in a very concise way — which is, in itself, a good writing exercise. Seasoned writers might look at it as an ongoing book tour, or at least the Q&A part of the book tour.”

Lin, on the other hand, doesn’t think there’s a difference. “I feel like what I try to do myself has remained somewhat constant throughout my time having these [accounts].”

So it’s up to you how to present yourself, but you should be honest with followers about your work’s progress.

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9. Don’t Obsess Over Number of Followers

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It’s likely that you’ll become preoccupied with how many people you influence through social networks, but it’s important to let that go.

“Don’t obsess about your number of followers,” says Orlean. “Just be genuinely engaged, and people will listen.”

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10. Don’t Force It

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It’s alright to admit that social media isn’t for you. “If after experimenting for a while, you find you don’t really enjoy it, don’t do it,” Palmer advises. “It’s obvious to others when your heart isn’t in it. And should you come to find you like it a little too much, use social media as a reward for doing your real work — writing.”

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, Soyhan, chris_lemmens, courtneyk, matspersson0.

With blogs, podcasts, webinars, and social media your location is where you are engaging your potential customers. That being said, here are 5 ways to get your business noticed:

Signage – On the street or on the web if you can’t get my attention chances are I will go elsewhere.

Social Media – Get on facebook or linkedin for 15 minutes a day!

Mailbox – Believe it or not direct mail is still very popular and for good reason: We all open our mail. Note this will only be effective if you have a compelling offer.

Vlogs – Video blogs are so easy and when you publish your links your visibility increases.

Networking – This is the best way to get face to face with your potential customers but only if you are at the right event.

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Bad Commercial:

You want to tell me about your company (Who cares! People are only interested in what you can do to help them.)

You don’t practice. (Apparently first impressions don’t matter to you and you like to appear sloppy)

You UMMM and AAAA. (I could really go on about this but UMMMM and AAAAA. It is extremely annoying and you turn me off completely to listening)

Great Commercial:

Here are the Ted Commandments* and if taken to heart when doing your sixty second commercial can open doors for you:

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.

Thanks to Tim Longhurst (The TED Commandments – rules every speaker needs to know)

Challenge:

Coldwell Banker is a long-standing, recognized real estate agency that serves the greater Edmonton region. The company is known for their integrity and the
results they have produced for thousands of customers throughout their years of service. Recently, Coldwell has seen some less established real estate agencies come into their territory and take business away. So, the owner of Coldwell knew that they needed to do something to win back that business and it was ultimately decided to use a promotional product to gain new customers.

Solution:

The first thing that the team accomplished was to understand more about the situation that Coldwell had found themselves in and what they hoped the promotion
would achieve. This gave the group a better idea of the product to select and how it could be distributed. After this discussion, it was decided that the advertising mint box would be the best item for the client. The mint box is an eco-friendly, reclosebale box that contains 20-25 peppermints. One of the great things about the item
is the printing space available; it allows for fully customizable artwork to be printed on all 5 sides of the box. Polaris loved the idea and would distribute the product at open houses in the Edmonton area.

Result:

The prospective clients loved the item and at every open house all the mint boxes would be gone. When questioned by Coldwells’ agents at the open houses, the
prospective clients remarked that the mint boxes were much more effective and memorable than a business card or a toy giveaway item. In turn, the agency started to reclaim the real estate business in the areas where they had recently struggled to gain a foothold in the market. Coldwell was extremely happy with the entire process and they plan to use the same promotional product team for an upcoming holiday giveaway item.

If you would like more information on advertising mint boxes give us a call or send us an email and we’ll send you details.

Marketing is not an expense, it is an investment.

Investing in great traditional and digital marketing strategies drives sales! Choose a poor marketing strategy and of course you are wasting your marketing  dollars. A lot of companies have been cutting expenses and of course marketing is always one of the most contested line items for companies.

Marketing is not an expense, it is an investment.

Small and mid-sized companies usually view marketing as an expense so of course they cut budgets and lose sales. If you are cutting marketing, chances are you have not found a strategy that works. In other words, you are eliminating any chance of driving in sales with successful marketing because you have failed to find a channel or method that works.

Marketing is not an expense, it is an investment.

Looking for good marketing strategies that work? Do your homework and make sure that you are covering both the traditional and digital business landscape.