I just came across a great topic at a internet forum I frequent, Michel Fortin's Copywriter's Board. This is a great website that I visit often and it has some great discussions on copywriting and direct response marketing in general.
There's a thread going on right now on 3D mail. See it right here. Of course, being the The 3D Mail expert I had to weigh in my thoughts. The question was raised, "At what point do you send the 3D mail item in your mailing sequence? The beginning? The end? Somewhere in between? You'll have to click over to the thread to get my thoughts on the subject.
As a side note, one other blog I read daily and try to never miss is Clayton Makepeace's Total Package Blog. Just a couple resources for you all today!
www.3DMailresults.com
Monday, September 15, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Our Custom Service Promise
I just got off the phone today with a potential new client. He had been working with one of our competitors on the mini trash can mailing. After about 4 weeks of getting the run-around, the competitor finally said, "Sorry, can fulfill." and left him hanging. (Tory White had a similar posting over on Clayton Makepeace's Total Package Blog about crummy customer service as well)
Thankfully, he was able to find us on via a search engine and he gave me a call today. By Monday we'll have his order processed and the trash cans will be in his hands by Friday.
I don't mean to toot my own horn, but we are fanatical about customer service. If we say something going to happen, we move hell and earth to make sure what we promise happens.
I know some of you may not be too familiar with our new division, 3D Mail Results, but the core company (American Retail Supply) has been in business for nearly 40 years. In fact, we were ranked best small business to work for in the State of Washington.
So this division's name may be different, but you'll still get the Make-You-Happy service that is the trade-mark of American Retail Supply.
That's all for this Friday afternoon rant. We'll pick up next week with some great 3D mail examples!
Thankfully, he was able to find us on via a search engine and he gave me a call today. By Monday we'll have his order processed and the trash cans will be in his hands by Friday.
I don't mean to toot my own horn, but we are fanatical about customer service. If we say something going to happen, we move hell and earth to make sure what we promise happens.
I know some of you may not be too familiar with our new division, 3D Mail Results, but the core company (American Retail Supply) has been in business for nearly 40 years. In fact, we were ranked best small business to work for in the State of Washington.
So this division's name may be different, but you'll still get the Make-You-Happy service that is the trade-mark of American Retail Supply.
That's all for this Friday afternoon rant. We'll pick up next week with some great 3D mail examples!
Monday, September 8, 2008
4 Tips for Creating a Successful 3D Mail Program
There are 8 great questions you must ask yourself before implementing 3D mail in your business. Here are the first 4. The next 4 will be posted later this week.
1. Does 3D mail work for your business?
3Dmail has many uses in both consumer and B2B businesses. However you do need to ask yourself if this is the right promotion to use. If you are in the B2B marketing with products/services that sell for a few thousands dollars (or totaling that after one year) or in an affluent type of consumer product/service, then 3D mail is for you.
If you have a product or service that sells for a lower dollar value, then the incremental cost of running a 3D mail program may not be the right fit. However, if that product or service is consumable (like bags that retailers use for us at American Retail Supply), and being sold over and over again to the same client (in either B2B or consumer marketplace), then it is appropriate for you.
2. What are your goals for your 3D mail campaign?
What do you want to achieve with this 3D direct mail campaign? Is this a one-step sale or lead generation? Do you want to set up a phone call, face-to-face meeting, a website visit etc?
What are you monetary goals? What kind of sales and responses do you need to make the mailing successful? Have you put yourself in a situation where an average response will reap huge rewards? You never want to put yourself in a situation where amazing results are required for you to make a good return on your investment.
3. It’s about ROI, not cost, or even response rates!
It is very important to think of 3D mail sequence and campaigns in terms of ROI and not cost or even response rate. 3D mail can cost more than regular flat mail packages. But it’s not a standard style package that gets regular results. Some will base their budgets on the cost to acquire a new customer.
Do the math to see if you feel you can hit the optimal ROI for your business. Remember, we put money in the bank, not response rates. The slightly higher cost of 3D mail almost always warrants the use of it when measuring ROI.
4. Targeting and segmenting your list.
This is a key aspect of any marketing effort, especially 3D mail. Average copywriting sent to an extremely targeted, well picked list can get your incredible results. Superior copywriting to an inferior list, with little or no targeting will get you inferior results. This is true whether you use 3D mail or flat mail. Segment your list to find biases, either demographically or psycho-graphically. Know your targets and know them well!
Stay tuned later this week and we'll discuss 4 other tips you must consider before doing your first (or 100th) 3D mailing.
www.3DMailResults.com
1. Does 3D mail work for your business?
3Dmail has many uses in both consumer and B2B businesses. However you do need to ask yourself if this is the right promotion to use. If you are in the B2B marketing with products/services that sell for a few thousands dollars (or totaling that after one year) or in an affluent type of consumer product/service, then 3D mail is for you.
If you have a product or service that sells for a lower dollar value, then the incremental cost of running a 3D mail program may not be the right fit. However, if that product or service is consumable (like bags that retailers use for us at American Retail Supply), and being sold over and over again to the same client (in either B2B or consumer marketplace), then it is appropriate for you.
2. What are your goals for your 3D mail campaign?
What do you want to achieve with this 3D direct mail campaign? Is this a one-step sale or lead generation? Do you want to set up a phone call, face-to-face meeting, a website visit etc?
What are you monetary goals? What kind of sales and responses do you need to make the mailing successful? Have you put yourself in a situation where an average response will reap huge rewards? You never want to put yourself in a situation where amazing results are required for you to make a good return on your investment.
3. It’s about ROI, not cost, or even response rates!
It is very important to think of 3D mail sequence and campaigns in terms of ROI and not cost or even response rate. 3D mail can cost more than regular flat mail packages. But it’s not a standard style package that gets regular results. Some will base their budgets on the cost to acquire a new customer.
Do the math to see if you feel you can hit the optimal ROI for your business. Remember, we put money in the bank, not response rates. The slightly higher cost of 3D mail almost always warrants the use of it when measuring ROI.
4. Targeting and segmenting your list.
This is a key aspect of any marketing effort, especially 3D mail. Average copywriting sent to an extremely targeted, well picked list can get your incredible results. Superior copywriting to an inferior list, with little or no targeting will get you inferior results. This is true whether you use 3D mail or flat mail. Segment your list to find biases, either demographically or psycho-graphically. Know your targets and know them well!
Stay tuned later this week and we'll discuss 4 other tips you must consider before doing your first (or 100th) 3D mailing.
www.3DMailResults.com
Thursday, September 4, 2008
3 More Ways to Use 3D Mail
For the past couple weeks we've been counting down just 8 of the unique ways that 3D mail can be used in your marketing. Here are the final three.
Stimulate referrals
Remember when we talked about 3D mail having sticking power? Meaning that people who receive unique 3D mail usually show others the cool mailing they received. Before you know it, you’re getting leads and sales from people you never even sent the mailing to!
Another great way to stimulate referrals with 3D mailing is to your current clients. One that I really like is a small boomerang inside an envelope with the headline, “Most of Our Business Comes Back to Us From Great Customers like You.” You may want to consider offering a premium (free gift) for those clients who do refer new clients.
Get more business with current clients
There is one big problem all businesses face when trying to get more business from existing clients. Even though they (ought to) know you and trust you, it’s very hard to get their attention and get them to act, even though they’ve ordered from you in the past.
You need to use 3D mail that demands attention. It must cut the clutter and get though to the client. A bank bag, message-in-a-bottle, or small item stuffed in an envelope all invoke curiosity that will get your client’s attention. It gets them involved and interacting with the mailing. This gives you a much better opportunity to sell to them again.
Find qualified prospects at a trade show
Trade show attendees are often bombarded with pre and post show advertising. It comes from the show organizers themselves, your company, and your competitors. It can get downright overwhelming for some prospects.
This is a time when you have to be out-of-the-box, unique and be willing to stand out from the crowd. A simple, standard size postcard probably won’t cut it. Be daring and stand out.
For pre-show advertising, be creative. Use 3D mail to cut the clutter and give them a reason to stop by your booth, like a free gift or show specials. If you’re doing either, try to tie the promotion in with your 3D grabber.
For instance, if you’re doing a drawing for a free trip, try sending a small toy airplane with the headline, “We’ll send you anywhere in North America just for stopping by and saying ‘Hi.”
The puzzle piece mailer and treasure chest key discussed above is another great way to drive traffic to your booth for pre-show advertising.
For post-show advertising, it’s just as important to stand out. Again, you may want to tie in your promotion from the show. But most importantly, you want to remind that they had stopped by your booth, and now it’s time to get the sale.
We've wrapped up our segment on 8 ways to use 3D mail in your marketing. Starting next week we'll review some tips you can use today for your next 3D mailing.
See you then!
www.3DMailResults.com
Stimulate referrals
Remember when we talked about 3D mail having sticking power? Meaning that people who receive unique 3D mail usually show others the cool mailing they received. Before you know it, you’re getting leads and sales from people you never even sent the mailing to!
Another great way to stimulate referrals with 3D mailing is to your current clients. One that I really like is a small boomerang inside an envelope with the headline, “Most of Our Business Comes Back to Us From Great Customers like You.” You may want to consider offering a premium (free gift) for those clients who do refer new clients.
Get more business with current clients
There is one big problem all businesses face when trying to get more business from existing clients. Even though they (ought to) know you and trust you, it’s very hard to get their attention and get them to act, even though they’ve ordered from you in the past.
You need to use 3D mail that demands attention. It must cut the clutter and get though to the client. A bank bag, message-in-a-bottle, or small item stuffed in an envelope all invoke curiosity that will get your client’s attention. It gets them involved and interacting with the mailing. This gives you a much better opportunity to sell to them again.
Find qualified prospects at a trade show
Trade show attendees are often bombarded with pre and post show advertising. It comes from the show organizers themselves, your company, and your competitors. It can get downright overwhelming for some prospects.
This is a time when you have to be out-of-the-box, unique and be willing to stand out from the crowd. A simple, standard size postcard probably won’t cut it. Be daring and stand out.
For pre-show advertising, be creative. Use 3D mail to cut the clutter and give them a reason to stop by your booth, like a free gift or show specials. If you’re doing either, try to tie the promotion in with your 3D grabber.
For instance, if you’re doing a drawing for a free trip, try sending a small toy airplane with the headline, “We’ll send you anywhere in North America just for stopping by and saying ‘Hi.”
The puzzle piece mailer and treasure chest key discussed above is another great way to drive traffic to your booth for pre-show advertising.
For post-show advertising, it’s just as important to stand out. Again, you may want to tie in your promotion from the show. But most importantly, you want to remind that they had stopped by your booth, and now it’s time to get the sale.
We've wrapped up our segment on 8 ways to use 3D mail in your marketing. Starting next week we'll review some tips you can use today for your next 3D mailing.
See you then!
www.3DMailResults.com
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Drive Traffic to a Location
Here's one of my favorite ways to use 3D mail in really ANY business.
3D mail can be very effective is getting your clients or prospects to come to your store, restaurant or other retail location. One of the best ones we’ve seen in driving traffic to your location is what we call a “puzzle piece mailer.”
In this mailing, you attach a puzzle piece to the top of your letter to your clients or prospects with the headline, “Is This the Winning Piece.” In the letter, its tells the client to bring this puzzle piece in to your location to see if it is the missing piece to complete the puzzle you’ve assembled in your business. If the piece matches, they win!
In restaurants the winner often receives a free meal for that visit, or in a retail store they’ll receive some type of Gift Certificate to redeem in the store.
Here’s another hint. Make sure everyone is a winner, even if their piece doesn’t fit. Have some inexpensive free gifts to give anyone with a puzzle piece who visits your location. We’ve also seen this work well when you send a key in the mailing. They bring in their key to see if it unlocks the treasure chest. If it does, they win again!
Next post I'll discuss 3 other ways to use 3D mail in your business. Be sure to check back in a couple days!
www.3DMailResuls.com
3D mail can be very effective is getting your clients or prospects to come to your store, restaurant or other retail location. One of the best ones we’ve seen in driving traffic to your location is what we call a “puzzle piece mailer.”
In this mailing, you attach a puzzle piece to the top of your letter to your clients or prospects with the headline, “Is This the Winning Piece.” In the letter, its tells the client to bring this puzzle piece in to your location to see if it is the missing piece to complete the puzzle you’ve assembled in your business. If the piece matches, they win!
In restaurants the winner often receives a free meal for that visit, or in a retail store they’ll receive some type of Gift Certificate to redeem in the store.
Here’s another hint. Make sure everyone is a winner, even if their piece doesn’t fit. Have some inexpensive free gifts to give anyone with a puzzle piece who visits your location. We’ve also seen this work well when you send a key in the mailing. They bring in their key to see if it unlocks the treasure chest. If it does, they win again!
Next post I'll discuss 3 other ways to use 3D mail in your business. Be sure to check back in a couple days!
www.3DMailResuls.com
Thursday, August 28, 2008
2 More ways to use 3D Mail
We left you with 4 ways to use 3D mail last post, here's an additional two ways to use 3D mail.
Reduce Returns
One problem any business runs into is return rates. This is also called buyers remorse. After the initial purchase you can send follow up 3D mailings (often called a ‘stick’ campaign) to reinforce the purchase your client has just made.
But why would you send 3D mail when you can send regular mail? For all the reasons we’ve already outlined. Remember, if a mailing doesn’t get opened, it can’t be read or acted upon. It is every bit as important, if not more so, for your follow up marketing to be open, read and acted upon, as your initial mailing to get the order.
Reactivate Lost Clients
This is where 3D mail can really get fun, and profitable! Lost clients are those clients who made a purchase from you at some point, but have not bought again over a defined period of time. This period of time of course varies by industry. If you’re a car salesman, it may be 2-3 years. A real estate agent, it may be 5-10 years. If you own a restaurant, it may be 30-60 days!
It is often reported that it is anywhere from 10 times to 100 times more costly to get a new client, than it is to sell again to an existing client. I believe that a ‘lost’ client is probably the second easiest client to sell to (behind those clients who are continually buying from you).
A very successful 3D mail 3-step campaign we’ve seen done by our clients includes a Boomerang with a headline “We Want You Back.” A compass with the headline “Are you Lost?” The third step, a small plastic bug is inserted into the envelope with the headline, “This is the last time I’m going to bug you!” A lost client campaign is only limited by your imagination.
Next post we'll cover a doozie. Driving traffic to your physical retail or business location. Stay tuned.
www.3dmailresults.com
Reduce Returns
One problem any business runs into is return rates. This is also called buyers remorse. After the initial purchase you can send follow up 3D mailings (often called a ‘stick’ campaign) to reinforce the purchase your client has just made.
But why would you send 3D mail when you can send regular mail? For all the reasons we’ve already outlined. Remember, if a mailing doesn’t get opened, it can’t be read or acted upon. It is every bit as important, if not more so, for your follow up marketing to be open, read and acted upon, as your initial mailing to get the order.
Reactivate Lost Clients
This is where 3D mail can really get fun, and profitable! Lost clients are those clients who made a purchase from you at some point, but have not bought again over a defined period of time. This period of time of course varies by industry. If you’re a car salesman, it may be 2-3 years. A real estate agent, it may be 5-10 years. If you own a restaurant, it may be 30-60 days!
It is often reported that it is anywhere from 10 times to 100 times more costly to get a new client, than it is to sell again to an existing client. I believe that a ‘lost’ client is probably the second easiest client to sell to (behind those clients who are continually buying from you).
A very successful 3D mail 3-step campaign we’ve seen done by our clients includes a Boomerang with a headline “We Want You Back.” A compass with the headline “Are you Lost?” The third step, a small plastic bug is inserted into the envelope with the headline, “This is the last time I’m going to bug you!” A lost client campaign is only limited by your imagination.
Next post we'll cover a doozie. Driving traffic to your physical retail or business location. Stay tuned.
www.3dmailresults.com
Monday, August 25, 2008
8 Ways go Grow Your Business With 3D Mail
There are 8 distinct ways that 3D mail can be used to grow your business. Below are the first 3. We'll tackle a couple each day for the next week or two.
Increase The Size of an Order
As we talked about earlier, 3D mail can often be used as a freemium, a gift you give the prospect with no obligation on their part. However, this inexpensive free gift can be used to give wafflers or fence sitters the last little push to take you up on your offer.
Here’s another tip to increase the size of your order. Offer another free gift that complements the freemium you previously sent when they place their order of a certain dollar amount. This will give many new clients the added reason to increase their order size!
Generate Leads
We all know how hard it is to get new clients through a cold mailing. As Bill has pointed out in this book, it’s extremely important to stand out with your advertising. 3D Mail does that. It is not unusual for your prospects to be so amazed with your mailing that they actually call to find out where you got the idea! Talk about cutting the clutter!
Reduce Returns
One problem any business runs into is return rates. This is also called buyers remorse. After the initial purchase you can send follow up 3D mailings (often called a ‘stick’ campaign) to reinforce the purchase your client has just made.
But why would you send 3D mail when you can send regular mail? For all the reasons we’ve already outlined. Remember, if a mailing doesn’t get opened, it can’t be read or acted upon. It is every bit as important, if not more so, for your follow up marketing to be open, read and acted upon, as your initial mailing to get the order.
www.3dmailresults.com
Increase The Size of an Order
As we talked about earlier, 3D mail can often be used as a freemium, a gift you give the prospect with no obligation on their part. However, this inexpensive free gift can be used to give wafflers or fence sitters the last little push to take you up on your offer.
Here’s another tip to increase the size of your order. Offer another free gift that complements the freemium you previously sent when they place their order of a certain dollar amount. This will give many new clients the added reason to increase their order size!
Generate Leads
We all know how hard it is to get new clients through a cold mailing. As Bill has pointed out in this book, it’s extremely important to stand out with your advertising. 3D Mail does that. It is not unusual for your prospects to be so amazed with your mailing that they actually call to find out where you got the idea! Talk about cutting the clutter!
Reduce Returns
One problem any business runs into is return rates. This is also called buyers remorse. After the initial purchase you can send follow up 3D mailings (often called a ‘stick’ campaign) to reinforce the purchase your client has just made.
But why would you send 3D mail when you can send regular mail? For all the reasons we’ve already outlined. Remember, if a mailing doesn’t get opened, it can’t be read or acted upon. It is every bit as important, if not more so, for your follow up marketing to be open, read and acted upon, as your initial mailing to get the order.
www.3dmailresults.com
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