Success Strategies for Multi-Channel Marketing

Multichannel marketing is everywhere.  It’s become the default way of reaching customers and prospects, and barring the exceptional single-channel program here and there, it’s often the most effective.

According to the Direct Marketing Association’s 2015 Response Rate Report:

• 83% of marketers now use email marketing,
• 65% use email + one other channel, and
• 44% use three channels: email, direct mail, and social media.

Even professional print buyers aren’t buying “just print” anymore. According to research conducted by Margie Dana and John Zarwan (“The New Print Buyers: Who They Are, What They Want and What You Should Do,” 2013), the responsibility for print procurement has become more diffuse. Not only do print buyers do more than order print, but print procurement itself is spread across multiple departments. There might be buyers in purchasing, marketing, and higher education. Few print buyers even have the words “print buyer” in their titles anymore.

What printers think of as traditional “print buyers” are long gone. Today, they are designers, marketers, and organizational planners thinking in multichannel ways.

In fact, according to “The New Print Buyers,” only 13% of print procurement specialists want their printers to “just print.” “I can’t stress this strongly enough,” says Dana, speaking in a webinar co-sponsored by Canon USA. “This is a total about face from a survey I did only a few years ago when professional print buyers wanted to work with printers who just put ink on paper. Today, print providers who offer more than ‘just print’ need to [really] promote those other capabilities.”

Defining Multichannel Marketing

Today, “multichannel” means—at minimum—print, email, social media, and mobile. As a print provider, you don’t need to offer every multichannel service under one roof, but you do need to be able to integrate with third-party suppliers to make your clients’ multichannel programs happen.

If you’re new to multichannel marketing or if you want to move from basic print + email, there are some simple ways that you can move into Phase 2.

1. Capitalizing on Email

The most popular way to turn single channel into multichannel marketing is to combine print and email. Most commonly, we see either “prime the pump” emails encouraging people to watch for an announcement or offer by direct mail; or follow-up emails nudging nonresponders to action.

“No single channel is as successful as the proper combination of direct mail and email,” notes Gary Seitz, EVP of C.TRAC Information Solutions (Strongsville, OH), giving a presentation for the Akron/Canton chapter of the DMA. “Response rates increase by up to 35% when direct mail and email are delivered in a cohesive campaign.”

Seitz gives an example from one his clients that produces seminars and events.

• The campaign started with a direct mail “save the date” / invitation.
• The first email was sent 3-7 days after the mailing.
• The second email was sent two weeks later (and received a 41% open rate).
• The campaign concluded with a final reminder direct mail that resulted in a 50% increase in reservations.

“The last mailing reminded our guests to register,” notes Seitz. “People put it off and finally did it. Our ROI on the final mailing was over 300%.”

Most PSPs already offer some email integration, but if you are looking to add or bump up your email capabilities, here are three steps you can take:

• Test the timing of your combinations. Does the campaign have more success when the email is sent before the direct mail piece or after? Is there a certain span of time between the email and the direct mailer that works best? Test your campaigns and find out. The more you refine your timing, the more successful your multichannel campaigns will be.
• Take advantage of the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb). If you are certified for the IMb, test very short, precise windows. If the mail lands on a Monday, will the results improve if the email hits the same day rather than within 24 hours? Is it more effective to send it two or three days later?
• Personalized experience all the way to the web. Use the same images, messaging, and branding across both channels. If you are personalizing, use personalized URL technology to maintain the personalization all the way to the web. Don’t lose the personalized experience by dumping respondents off on a generic site.

2. Get campaign-specific.

Make the landing pages to which you are driving traffic campaign-specific. This helps you to track the leads you are generating. Some people will visit the main company page (so the campaign-specific page won’t be an exact measure), but you know that everyone who does land on the campaign page did so as a result of this email or direct mailing.

If you’re going to be adding QR Codes to your marketing materials, mobile-optimize those landing pages. For example, if you’re selling home décor, don’t just send people to the product pages on your corporate site. Make it an experience. Offer expert design advice, palette suggestions, and an opportunity to win a $1,000 home style makeover. Give respondents the opportunity to share out the experience on social media.

Creating a campaign-specific site engages the audience in a different way than the product page on a website. It also helps you track engagement, creates the opportunity for viral sharing, and especially if you are personalizing the landing pages, gives you insight into where each site visitor is in the sales funnel and what content is of greatest interest to them.  

Use your landing pages as a way to further your multichannel efforts by asking visitors to update their contact information and provide email addresses and mobile phone numbers if you don't have them.

3. Run a Short Code Campaign

Short codes have become a default method of communication between marketers and their customers. Text to vote. Text to win. Text to receive coupons. Getting started with short codes might sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.  Let’s take the mystery out of it. Here’s how it works:

1. Create an account with the Common Short Code Association (CSCA).
2. Use the search tool to find the code you want.
3. Get reviewed by CTIA – The Wireless Association so they can make sure you’re a legitimate company.
4. Follow best practices and disclose terms and conditions.
5. Start marketing.

Jump in by creating a campaign for your own company. Get your feet wet, and you may find that the ideas start rolling and that, like Doritos, you can’t stop at just one.

4. Run a social media campaign and promote it with direct mail.

Like short code campaigns, running a social media campaign (like Twitter or Facebook) is something that every PSP/MSP should do at least once. Make it happen, and like short codes, you might find that the ideas start rolling.

TMR Direct (Colorado Springs, CO) recently posted an article on combining a Twitter campaign with direct mail. It gave the example of a client running a restaurant in a busy downtown area that wants to boost its lunchtime business. The target audience is a concentration of workers in a six-block area.

“One option might be to do a saturation mailing of that six-block area offering a killer deal on a lunch special if people follow you on Twitter,” says Wes Powell, president of TMR Direct. “Make it a really good deal [because] you’re asking people for a favor so you need to give them something valuable in return.”

Powell notes that you won’t reach everybody because you don’t have specific names, but you’ll get the ball rolling. Once people follow you on Twitter, you can reach back to them an offer them additional deals. Offer to give them an additional discount for every friend who follows them on Twitter, as well.

“Their friends get a deal too,” says Powell. “Then repeat that offer (get a friend to sign up and you get a deal).”

Powell adds that once you’ve built a following, you can stop the heavy discounts and start Tweeting daily specials, new menu items, or special events (such as in-house music) you might be offering.

Even if you’re not in the restaurant business, this is a great model you and your clients can follow.

5. Challenge yourself to consistently create multichannel campaigns that incorporate a minimum of three channels.

Remember that, according to the Direct Marketing Association, 44% of marketers are using three or more channels. Most PSPs and MSPs are using two at most. To deepen your expertise, all you need to do is add one more.

If you’re doing a short code campaign driven by direct mail, create in-store displays with the same short code offer. If the client takes advantage of heavy foot traffic (such as a downtown restaurant), make use of outdoor advertising to get the message in front of passersby. If you’re doing direct mail and email, add a QR Code leading to a mobile-optimized, campaign-specific landing page.

There are lots of ways to add in additional channels without breaking the budget. Each channel adds that much more experience and expertise into your mix. So take a word from Nike: “Just do it.”

Email: Before or After?

Should you use email to prime the pump for an upcoming direct mail offer or as a follow-up to a mailer? According to Wes Powell, president of TMR Direct, it depends on whether you are targeting a new audience or marketing to an existing one.

“Use email as a follow-up to direct mail when the goal is new customer acquisition,” he writes in the TMR white paper, “Direct Mail and Multi Channel Checklist. “Unsolicited email will get deleted.”

Powell notes that direct mail creates familiarity with the recipient. “But make sure your subject line (and the content of your email) are clearly tied to the direct mail piece—and that the recipient responded (‘Here’s the special report you requested!’)” he says.

Conversely, use email as a lead-in when working with existing customers and clients. “This allows you to prep the recipient to watch for the direct mail piece,” Powell concludes. “Trusted email (from someone the recipient knows) can be powerful.”