Determining Marketing Effectiveness Even If You Didn't Track & Direct Mail Marketing Done Correctly, Cannot Fail

What if you've done a variety of marketing activities over the past year, but you did not establish any way to track the response? Now you don’t know what worked and what didn’t. nIs there anything you can do now before you continue with your marketing efforts and potentially continue spending money on not-so-effective marketing activities? First of all, don’t beat yourself up. You are not alone. In fact, one of my biggest challenges as a marketing consultant has been to get my clients to track the effectiveness of their various marketing activities. nnThe first thing to do is recognize the importance of tracking, and make sure that you have a plan in place to track all of your future marketing activities. The simplest way to track is to ask each new customer where or how they found out about you. You may also want to consider including a code on any flyers or brochures that you distribute, and providing a reason for the customer to bring that flyer in when they come to make a purchase. Reasons to return the flyer could be to take advantage of a special offer, or to get a discount or free bonus gift. nnYou can also do this by phone or on the Internet if that is how your customers make purchases. Simply ask them to provide you with the code on the brochure or flyer that they are calling or ordering from. Make sure the code is specific to the location or group of people that you distributed the flyer to. nnIf you are networking or speaking to a group and someone gives you their business card and agrees to receive your free report or e-newsletter, make sure you include a reference in your contact database of the event where you met them. nnAs far as tracking your past marketing activities, consider asking your current customers how they found out about you. nnYou could do a survey that includes a number of customer satisfaction questions, but also includes a question to determine how they found out about you. nnIf you have a handful of clients that you work closely with and you really don’t know how they found you, pick up the phone and ask them. nnEither of these tactics should give you an idea of what marketing activities worked and which ones you may be able to do without in the future. nnIf you're still not sure, continue with all the marketing activities, BUT put tracking mechanisms into place so you won't end up in the same boat next year.nDirect Mail Marketing Done Correctly, Cannot Fail :nnSo how do you do it? nnDirect mail marketing. When it comes to marketing your product or services there are two basic challenges: nn1. How do you obtain new customers or clients? nn2. How do you get your existing customers to come back for more? nnDirect mail/direct response marketing answers both these challenges admirably (it’s not the only way to do it but it is a proven method that always works). You can ALWAYS rely on DIRECT MAIL MARKETING. nThe postcard—direct marketing’s secret weapon… nnOne of the simplest and most cost-effective forms of direct mail marketing is the POSTCARD. Because postcards work so well they can be considered one of the key small business marketing strategies. nn"I switched from sending out a monthly newsletter to my mailing list, to sending out full color post cards. nnNot only did it save me money on the cost of printing, but it saved me the hassle of having to prepare the mailings. nnFeedback has been very positive from our clients and the leads have been pouring in. Plus my website hits have increased due to promotion or it on our post cards!" Kerry Fuller, Realty Executives nnDirect mail marketing strategies… nnTo get new customers all you need to do is: nn1. Get their identities (mailing lists do this). nn2. Reach them (direct mail does this). nn3. Attract their attention and get your message across (post cards do this perfectly—you don’t have to open them!). nn4. Get them to contact you. (Your mailing piece, letter or, preferably, post card, will do that if it’s well designed and written.) nn5. The rest is up to your ability to sell. nnTo get your existing customers to come back for more all you need to do is: nn1. Keep accurate records of your customers (anyone who has ever bought anything from you) in a database and keep it current. nn2. Send them frequent mailings. nnPostcards are excellent. You can send out a newsletter. You can send out personalized letters. But keep contacting them. Tell them about new products or services. Get them to respond. nn3. Obviously you have to deliver excellent service or a great product. You will get results with these marketing techniques even if you don’t deliver good service or a great product, but it won’t last long and you won’t be able to maintain it. nn4. Remember, the size of your customer base and the number of mailings to it determines how much income you make. Fact. n