Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

You're going to try and make it as targeted as possible. Are you aware of the online opportunities for refining your approach before you invest large sums in brochure distribution?

I presume from the things you say that you're doing a mail-shot. Which will be expensive (hugely expensive compared to the internet) - yet you aren't willing to invest in targeting it. Because doing it cheaply usually means a lot of footwork, and that if considered carefully is actually a lot of money too. There are such things as the telephone directories and yellow pages - both have been used successfully. There are other business directories online and offline that you can pore through. These are found online as well, but will need a fine tooth comb to get results of the kind you're looking for.

The real advantage of using something like the Google display network - the less well known corner of their Adwords behemoth - is that you can refine your message as well as determine the areas that are best to target. It is fast and inexpensive and the ability to tailor your message before committing it to print will be worth way more than the money you invest in it.

Yes. There are several ways to approach this from do-it-yourself, to your printer, to list consultants. There are list brokers that specialize in homes.
Here are some sources:
- your newspaper- they can deliver as you require
- https://www.infousa.com/ - research and buy yourself
- www.infofree.com - research and buy yourself, they're cheaper, but I don't think they're segmentation is as good
salesgenie.com- research and buy yourself. I like the clone your best customer feature
consultants: don't be afraid to you use one. Depending on the size of your campaign, it may be critical to avoid waste
https://www.anchorcomputer.com/- larger company
https://www.datamangroup.com/ Dale has focused on consumer list sales for over 20 years

If your flyer campaign also drives traffic to a specific web landing page, you'll have doubled your chances of getting the customer to remember who you are if they don't buy immediately. If sending to your home page, add a big button "if you received our flyer" or something thats relates the two topics so you can quickly drive to next action.

A flyer needs to be folded and tabbed to go through the mail, which will reduce the visibility of your offer. To see what I mean, take an 8.5 inch by 11 inch sheet of paper, and write your message on it. Now, take your 'flyer', placing it in portrait position, and fold it twice so there are three equal size panels. Take a look at your 'flyer' now. See how it's reduced the visibility of your message? Any reduction in message visibility will reduce your response rate dramatically. See how this could be a serious problem?

Now, to counter this, you may want to modify your flyer design so that the 'front' and 'back' panels display an entire message.

But, it may make sense to print a postcard. There is no folding or tabbing required to send postcards through the mail. Odds are, your postcard would be read because it has two sides, with none of the content hidden from view, and the prospective customer doesn't have to open anything to read it. This will increase your readership, and should increase response rates.

My two cents...

Darcy Moen
Customer Loyalty Network

Now, the trick is

Good morning!

I want to ask you if you managed to hone your tagline using your internet campaigns.

You don't know what else you can do - your campaigns have "gone off the boil".

That makes my ears prick.

Why?

My ears prick because for a start, you're looking for information that should have been available as data from your campaigns. That tells me you're still at the stage of dealing with the market head on (so to speak). Your keywords, ads and landing pages are all approached head on, directly.

The point is you've saturated that market - and as with most things marketing, there's an exponential at work. You know the concept of the long-tail search term? The more refined the search the fewer searchers? Well put this argument on its head and you have the marketer's dilemma: the more saturated your market the fewer new clicks you get as time goes on*. The side effect of this is that the leads get more expensive. (* I would have included a picture of a logarithmic curve - but that's not possible, sorry the functionality of this forum is very limited).

Now: how do you break out? How do you revive a flagging campaign?

The way to break out of any congested market is to avoid it altogether.

Or at least put it on the back burner. You have lots of campaigns, and lots of data. Facebook is especially good for this - what are your customer's likes?

Say they all like Louis Armstrong. He's my favourite anyway - and you'll find something or someone who stands out. So start advertising with Louis in the Ad. Focus on him and you have formed a connection to your audience. Believe me, it'll revive any flagging PPC campaign.

There's a dozen other alternatives too.