Small business owners and managed services providers ask me all the time: How can they leverage Google Adwords to target local customer prospects? No doubt, Adwords is an effective tool for highly targeted, cost-effective marketing promotions. And those promotions can be global, regional or local in nature. But here’s a counter-intuitive thought: Maybe MSPs should spend more time on direct mail marketing. After all — even the Mighty Google is spending big dollars on direct mail campaigns. Here’s why.
First, the usual background: Nine Lives Media Inc. (MSPmentor’s parent) has had a Google Adwords account for about two years. We use free options like the Google Adwords Tool and the Google Adwords Traffic Estimator Sandbox Tool. I’ve certainly heard from MSPs who are using those tools and other offerings like Kutenda to help shape pay-per-click marketing campaigns.
But when I walked down my driveway and reached into my physical mailbox today, I pulled out a catchy direct mail piece from Google. It was a four-page overview that offered me more tips on using Google Adwords. I’m keeping the mailer and plan to give it a closer read tonight.
This wasn’t a one-time Google experiment. The search giant has me on a mailing list for Google Apps and CIO-related communications. In a January 2010 mailing, Google sent CIOs a paper-based calculator that showed businesses how much money they could save by switching to Google Apps.
What type of return on investment can direct mail offer? Perhaps this Direct Mail ROI Calculator can offer some food for thought.
I’m not a direct mail expert. But I do know direct mail remains a key theme for many workshops and education sessions hosted by MSP University, Robin Robins and other industry pundits. Apparently, even Google got the message.
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Posted In: Marketing
Tags: Direct Mail Marketing | Eric Simpson | Google Adwords | Google Apps | managed services marketing | MSP marketing | MSP University | small business marketing | Technology Marketing Toolkit
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Joe, direct mail isn’t going anywhere. However, how do we leverage the power of all of these resources in our overall marketing plan. Even web marketing company ULISTIC leverages direct mail and real-life social networking (chamber of commerce etc) to grow our business.
The secret is weaving everything together. Social Media and Google are woven into the fabric of marketing but this doesn’t mean abandoning every tool. It is about balance. There are still old guys out there like me who have no idea how to turn on a computer let alone search on Google. I know how to turn on a computer though.
I bet on the Google direct mail there was a call to action to visit google.com/someURL though…it is about balance.
Stuart Crawford
ULISTIC Inc.
http://www.ulistic.com
Direct is a HUGE part of our marketing efforts. The problem with direct marketing is that it requires a rather large backoffice to handle the phones, collateral, information, onboarding, etc – which makes it very difficult for smaller MSPs to pull off – effectively.
And effectively is the key. Most people run one campaign or even worse, run the exact same campaign every single month. We get the same Robin Robbins stuff every single month and from HTG partners and it’s basically the exact same stuff over and over again. No wonder it only returns single digits.
But when money is tight and the backoffice is “the owner” on “cell phone” between “9-5″ the direct is nothing but a money pit fire.
-Vlad
P.S. Of course, this has just been our experience. Also, our direct efforts have significantly picked up as the economy went to hell. The less junk they get in the email the better open rate we get.
Stuart, Vlad: I’ve got to concede… direct mail is a bit of a blind spot for me. But I plan to study up — even as our team continues to adjust our Google Adwords terms
Joe,
Great post. Direct mail is nice but PLEASE remember that whatever you say in your direct mail, then it needs to be consistent with what your business says and does. Consistency and honesty are two key factors that customers look for. When a mailing talks about customer service, or their mission or values (if it even does), then make sure it’s actually practiced all the way through.
I write about marketing for IT service providers and sincerity, consistency, and engagement are critical using whatever method be it DM, social media, etc.
Thanks for a great post!
I have to agree with Vlad…in general…only a small percentage of IT support firms totally get marketing and not surprised by the numbers Vlad shares. I guess I was blessed to have a flair for marketing when I was a MSP. Thanks JP for a great post and not being afraid to discuss what matters the most for business, marketing, sales and then everything else
Stuart Crawford
Calgary, AB
http://www.ulistic.com
I used a lot of direct mail marketing in my previous business. It is a hit or miss affair, and more often a miss if you don’t know what you are doing.
I learned through the school of hard knocks that content is king in direct mail. If the content of your direct mail piece stinks, you will make a several thousand dollar mistake. You have to remember that your mail piece must stand out enough to entice the prospect to open it rather than tossing it in the trash, and that is difficult.
If you decide to experiment with direct mail, spend some money and have a professional write your content and design your mail piece. I promise you, this will be money well spent!
Paul Barnett
Marketing Director
Virtual Administrator
I have found that Direct Mail works best if it is in concert with email marketing, Website marketing and Telemarketing. I have also found that small boxes or mail tubes uniquely designed get the best opening rate. Create curiosity in the message on the outside of the package. It may be hard to do in scale but, a personal note, picture or sticker might be impactful.
The key is to have a very clear call to action and incentive so, you can identify the most interested and qualified prospects when they are most interested and qualified.
I would also encourage you to stagger the mail 10 mailings of 500 vs 5000 all at once. This willl allow you to test messages, call to actions and give yourself some sales breathing room to follow up with those that take action.
With new online resources where you can create highly targeted lists direct mail has become more useful in my mind. I can now create direct mail pieces that speak to a specific type of customer and then have a call to action to a landing page that addresses their specific needs. Using this method I can use Google Analytics to measure the success of the direct mail campaigns. To one up this you can use “zones” in your direct mail campaigns with different designs and calls to actions and see which of the versions collects the most actions (ie websites view,newsletter subscription, etc).
For small MSP’s you should look into using services that handle your incoming calls and offer live online chat when a direct mail recipient goes to the landing page. You can train these call answering services on how to take the call, qualify the lead, and pass any additional information onto the prospect. These services are cost effective and allow small firms to implement great marketing campaigns. Google is a great example of how you can use direct mail to get people on the web where you have far better analytics.
Folks: I realize I’ve been pretty quiet on this comment string… because I’m busy printing the comment tips for my own future use. Thanks for all of the great suggestions above.
-jp
As a 7 1/2 year veteran of direct mail (the good and the bad) in this industry, I can honestly say that there are a ton of factors that affect your success in direct mail (and all marketing for that matter). You can suck at email marketing and google adwords just as much as you can suck at direct mail. If you poorly target your audience in any marketing, then your results will suffer. A big mistake that I see many small (and big) MSP’s making is thinking that they can take a well-crafted campaign, send it out to any list and get stellar results. Another big mistake is just the opposite of this… taking a poorly crafted campaign & sending it out to a good list. Either way, you are likely to get poor results. Just like in a cake recipe, marketing is a combination of all the right ingredients and the way that you put them all together to get optimal results.
Jeff
http://www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com
None of us can argue the validity of utilizing direct mail, however, Shane walked down the correct path in stating the DM needs to integrate with the other channels. And there needs to be other channels. No one communcition channel can effectively support sales and lead gen needs.
Per Vlad’s comments, DM does require a strong back-office support. However, my feeling is Google does not support this need on their own they are outsourcing the colateral development, call center and necesasry trainig.
I would also suspect they are not producing this DM in house. As we are all looking for strong DM strategy, does anyone know who is developing Google’s DM campaigns?
Jonathan: I will check in with Google to see if they’ll disclose who is developing their direct mail campaigns. If I get an answer I’ll post it in the comment area below.
-jp
Joe, great post – and all respondents, excellent feedback.
Just to recap teh feedback and add a few thoughts, it’s all about the number of marketing touches delivered – not only to prospects, but also to existing clients that fills the pipeline. And utilizing a variety of vehicles to conduct the marketing touches is key, along with delivering a compelling message that piques interest and generates curiosity, as well as the timing of the message.
The IT Solution or Managed Services Provider marketer needs to deliver their marketing messages in the way that the recipient prefers to receive them – hence direct mail letters, postcards and telemarketing efforts should be included in a marketing strategy along with email marketing, newsletter marketing, pay per click advertising (or organic SEO to improve search results), and newsletters, case studies and business-win messaging.
All messaging should be created to generate interest, pique curiosity and recommend a call to action – and always lead the recipient back to the marketer’s website. The website is hands-down the most effective and cost-effective marketing tool at the marketer’s disposal – when designed, positioned and utilized correctly.
The website should have specific landing pages for each individual marketing campaign – if the Provider is marketing VoiP, then the landing page their messages direct visitors to should be a specific VoiP landing page designed to continue the marketing message and facilitate the conversion process from prospect to qualified prospect – not the home page, and the landing page has to continue to influence visitors to a call to action – pick up the phone, fill out a contact form in exchange for a return call, case study or white paper, sign up for a newsletter, webinar, event, etc.
All of these activities are designed to capture contact information to be used in follow up efforts. And video is the next frontier – all appropriate pages should have a short video that can be tagged and indexed by search engines, helping in SEO efforts and providing a more compelling way to deliver a marketing message to visitors and prospects.
Live Chat is definitely an effective, highly recommended addition to the website as well, as it allows the ability to immediately interact with a visitor and collect information about what they are doing on the site, in order to offer assistance or qualify them for the product or service they are currently browsing.
For existing clients, the marketer should also create and execute a continual retention campaign, messaging not only the products and services they offer that they may not have had the opportunity to share with their clients, but also business wins (good for both prospects and clients), reflecting their success, growth and capability to deliver these additional services, along with case studies and newsletters.
An important element to include in a retention campaign are holiday, birthday and special anniversary messages for their clients – this shows the Provider cares about the client and is keeping track of meaningful events in their business.
One more thought – appointment setting and thank you cards and emails also provide additional marketing touches for prospects and clients, and continue to reflect the image and professionalism of the Provider – this is especially beneficial during the pre-sales and sales process for new prospects.
Whichever marketing vehicles and messaging the marketer settles on for a new campaign, they then must schedule each event that comprises their marketing campaign in a logical manner that continues to generate interest, pique curiosity and prepares the prospect for the sales process that is to come – we don’t want to execute all of our marketing tasks on the same day, but rather create a long-term campaign to continue to touch our prospects and clients numerous times.
So a representative campaign may look like this:
Day 1 – Send Postcards/DM (we prefer oversize postcards that stick out of a pile of mail)
Day 3 – Send Email
Day 4 – Telemarketing Call-Down
Day 7 – Send Newsletter
Day 9 – Send Postcard/DM 2 (vary the message, same solution/service)
Day 12 – Send Email 2 (vary the message, same solution/service)
Day 13 – Telemarketing Call-Down 2
During this campaign, it is expected that the prospect will visit the marketer’s Website. This is an opportunity for them to exchange their contact information for a white paper or case study, review the information about the solution or service that drove them there, watch a short video and potentially engage with the Provider during a Live Chat session.
Now count all of those marketing touches – the fact is that the more we touch our prospects and clients, the better chance we have that they will do business with us.
This is why we should never stop marketing, and include direct mail as well as all other types of marketing vehicles we can muster to help us touch our prospects and clients in as many ways as possible through our marketing campaigns.
This is an extremely important topic, Joe – thanks for covering it. Let’s face it – without an effective lead generation strategy, sales suffer. That’s why MSP University delivers a full 3 days of Marketing education and training covering these topics in depth at our free Boot Camps, with the next one in Nashville on April 6th-8th.
Erick Simpson
MSP University
http://www.mspu.us
Erick: Um, I think you covered everything. You left me speechless (a rare feat…). Thanks for outlining and sharing your thoughts.
-jp
Thanks for the great post. It is nice to see businesses getting back to the basics. Recent trends have shown businesses shifting marketing priorities back to more traditional efforts. We have become so accustomed to digital interaction with brands that a “retroactive” campaign is just the right thing to catch our attention. Sending out a direct mail piece, meeting a prospect for coffee and when it is all said and done putting the human back into business is just what we need. This is very reminiscent of a book I am reading. “Returning To A Thank You Economy” Check out this article for more on humanizing your marketing approach:
http://www.doyenz.com/articles/returning-thank-you-economy-inspiration-gary-vaynerchuk
Mollie: I agree. Here at MSPmentor we get a lot of business (and a lot of blogging…) done over coffee.
-jp
Exactly. You’re never too big for direct mail. Even flyering is still an essential part of any MSP marketing operation.
http://www.mspbusinessmanagement.com/blog/using-flyers-market-your-business
Simon: You always come armed with a URL that’s longer than the longest word in the Engish dictionary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_word_in_English
-jp
Great post Joe! I’m looking to start an emailing campaign, since I recently updated my entire site and blog. I got several quotes from a few different mailing companies through http://www.purchaseamailinglist.com/marketing-with-email-lists.html but wanted to make sure I picked the best company. Do you have any advice or things I should look for while evaluating them?
Hi Dylan,
I apologize but I don’t have a really good feel for the best email marketing platform. I’d recommend checking in with a peer group (HTG) or a local small business association to find out what other businesses have been using, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Sorry I’m not of additional help.
-jp