Sometimes, a new combination of common things creates something new and exciting. Everyone understands direct mail, email marketing and websites. Many are familiar with variable printing and personalized URLs (pURLs). But how many have seen a system that combines all of these into a single messaging engine?
PitchRocket is a new web-application which combines these common activities to deliver uncommon results. Other applications combine email and direct mail (like Vertical Response, Exact Target and Amazing Mail), and pURLS have been around for awhile.
But the PitchRocket engine puts them all together, mixing traditional media with digital media to deliver a unique experience for both recipients and users.
The folks at Ad Giants are behind PitchRocket, and for full disclosure, we just announced a strategic partnership with a long-term goal of synergizing their upcoming marketing execution tools with our upcoming marketing planning application.
How it works
But back to PitchRocket. From it, users can access and filter their lists, select and customize creative templates, instantly create web-sitelets and use PitchRocket fulfillment services. It’s an elegant solution that allows users to create and launch turnkey campaigns without ever leaving the browser.
Think of it as
- Using personalization with one-to-one printing and pURLs in your direct mail piece;
- Integrating website pages with pURLs to extend your message to the web;
- Supporting the message with email; and
- Tracking the direct mail with almost the same precision as email.
Naturally, this combination delivers much higher response rates than an old school direct mail or email campaign. How much higher? It depends, but what Donovan Dillon, Ad Giants’ President, told me was impressive: “Jim, we don’t even load a template piece until we’ve tested it enough to achieve an 18% response rate.”
Of course, actual results are also impacted by list quality and offer relevance, but nevertheless, this is impressive.
We plan to use it for our Consulting M.O. v3.0 launch, and I’ll let you know how we perform. It’s an ideal sales-generation tool for field-marketing managers, corporate sales executives and professional marketing departments. Examples of its uses include
- Lead generation
- Trade show and event communication management
- Sales follow-ups
- Satisfaction surveys
- Internal communications
- Newsletters
Try it yourself and see how you fare. Personalization is powerful. When someone sends me a link or mail-piece with my name on it, I always take notice!
So you’ve read our recent article “Should You Create a Company Newsletter?” and have decided to publish one yourself. Newsletters can be a great way to nurture existing leads, strengthen relationships with current customers, increase your online presence or just keep your company at the top of your prospects’ minds.
How do you get started?
You know how much we love process, so here are the steps to follow to turn your newsletter concept into reality.
Audience
Who is your target audience? You may have already defined your ideal reader, but it helps to re-evaluate. How detailed can you get? More focus = greater chance for success.
For example, if your business is a garden center, you might define your target audience as a home gardener. But get more specific! You might really be looking for
- a female homeowner
- between 25-50 years old
- who is a vegetarian or vegetable-lover
- who enjoys cooking.
Your newsletter might then include recipes and focus specifically on kitchen gardens.
List
You hear realtors mention the phrase “location, location, location.” For newsletter publishers (and direct mail and email providers) the mantra is “list, list, list.”
Do you have an existing list? Or do you need to buy or rent one? Home-grown lists are almost always better, but there are dozens of companies that sell almost any type of list if you need one.
Outside lists will range in price depending on the source, the number of names and the information included. In our earlier example, you might consider purchasing specific zip codes from a subscriber list of a consumer gardening magazine. Look for lists with as much detail as possible.
Theme
What is the core content you’d like to deliver, and the true purpose for your newsletter? Think carefully about your audience and the business goals that you need to accomplish. Good content can handle many different business tasks, and digital media makes it fairly simple for businesses to sell with content.
Design
How will you use design to enhance your message? Create a newsletter design that reflects your company brand and image. Is it serious? Informative? Factual? Friendly? Entertaining? Humorous? Design templates are easy to find (and customize) so you don’t have to hire a graphic designer and create one from scratch.
Don’t forget the photos! These used to be expensive, but are now very affordable with free photo-sharing sites (make sure to get permission!) or paid sites like Shutterstock and Big Stock Photo.
Frequency
How often would you like to publish your newsletter? A weekly newsletter requires substantial content, but it’s a terrific way to communicate special promotions and keep in close contact with your buyers.
If you’re worried about that commitment, shoot for a monthly newsletter to start.
Copywriting
Who will copywrite and edit? It’s important to be consistent with tone and style, so find dedicated people to handle each function on a regular basis.
Delivery
Are you going to use email or regular mail for delivery? Most choose email nowadays, but electronic overload is keeping direct mail from its predicted demise.
There are plenty of great email service providers to choose from. Here’s a quick list:
Promotion
How will you promote your newsletter to build your subscriber list? Internet marketing makes it easy to drive traffic to web sign-up forms that write directly to a database or email platform. This makes it easy to promote via blogs, message boards, social media websites and other newsletter publishers. You can also include your publication in one of several newsletter directories. Be creative about expanding your audience. Fun contests and giveaways work well, and sometimes generate great publicity. Create an attractive offer to entice new readers to sign up.
Wrapup
Keep learning from your readers over time and adjust, refine and improve. Most importantly, stay committed! It takes time to build a good subscriber base. Even though there are thousands of newsletters for your audience, if you deliver valuable content to the right people on a regular basis, you’re likely to achieve success.
Are you looking to nurture existing leads, strengthen relationships with current customers, increase your online presence and keep your company at the top of your prospects’ minds?
A company newsletter can help you tackle all of these challenges.
The key to running a successful newsletter is to deliver a quality message to the people that want to hear it. You’re now a publisher, and need to consider your content selection, voice, creative and copywriting, in addition to building your list and delivering enticing offers and calls to action.
Email vs. Print Newsletters
We’re in the digital age, and email is the clear delivery method of choice for most newsletters. Email newsletters are cheaper than print, arrive almost instantaneously, are easily tracked and can quickly drive website traffic.
You can use email newsletters to:
- Persuade prospects to take immediate action
- Announce special offers
- Share ideas
- Keep your name in front of prospects without a heavy-handed sales call
- Gain a wider audience and more links through syndication
- Feed search engines with new material by publishing older issues on your website
But don’t count out traditional print newsletters; they still work. Many buyers get electronic overload and a print newsletter can be refreshing. And, print gives you a greater opportunity to create a unique and lasting impression than email.
Newsletter Examples
Newsletters are very common, and you probably subscribe to a few even if you don’t realize it. Here are a few examples:
Barnes and Noble – Their email newsletter has weekly specials (both online and in-store), gives reviews on newly released books and promotes hot sellers. The 10-20% coupons keep customers coming back to shop.
Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling – Jeffrey’s weekly newsletter supports the content from his sales-related books and public speaking engagements. They’re filled with sales training tools, reader write-ins, guest author articles and motivational quotes.
Control Scan – This B2B data security firm publishes a monthly newsletter for both current and potential clients. The publication includes articles on how to improve ecommerce security as well as the latest news regarding IT security vulnerabilities.
Real estate development firms – many use highly stylized newsletters to keep potential buyers up-to-date on the status of their building completion. They use beautiful photographs, unusual layouts and interesting maps printed on high-quality paper to create a sophisticated image for their communities.
Factors to Consider
Does your company have the time and budget to create a consistent, quality newsletter?
Think about your target audience and the core message that you would like to communicate. Would a newsletter help you convey your messages more effectively? If so, how would it contribute to sales?
Evaluate the benefits first. If you’re still considering one, stay tuned for an upcoming article that will cover the how-tos. Then you can estimate your costs and make your decision.
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