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"The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing"
John Russell, President, Harley-Davidson
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ADMA Conference / Exhibition, 2004
This year, ADMA's Pan-Pacific Marketing Conference will held on May 26 - 28 and will focus on the 'BIG Ideas in Direct Marketing'. The three day event has been designed to inspire marketeers, with a multitude of prestigious guest speakers - including the Hon. Daryl Williams AM QC MP, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts - offering their insight, tips and techniques to help boost your response rates. In addition, there is expected to be over 100 exhibitors present, all showcasing their products and services under one roof!
Click here for more information and if you would like to keep up-to-date with any new developments or breaking news, click here to visit their conference newsletter subscription page.
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Can I Walk You Home Tonight?
Just the other night after a party, I accepted a friend’s gallant offer to walk me home. Although I just live around the block, to be accompanied at that time of the night seemed a sensible idea. There was no reason for me to think that his offer was not genuine. He seemed nice and well behaved all evening. Perhaps it was because the moon was full (or simply a few drinks had emboldened his spirit). His gallantry started its decline the closer we got to my home, to the point where he considered it a far better idea that I should at take a guided tour of his car with extra attention to the plush back seat.
Fortunately my key was in the door and farewells were bid before the whole thing turned foul. Needless to say though I was not too happy about my experience. I felt that my permission for him to walk me home has been exploited.
How is this related to email marketing you may ask? Well it's all about permission and what you do with it. I have seen similar behaviour exercised by some businesses with their opt in list.
What have you been granted permission to do?
When asking for permission to send email communiqué to your customers, do you specify what you will be sending them and how frequently?
Many companies have found that inviting customers to receive relevant news and information is an easy way to grow their list (the walk home). If your customers have opted to receive industry news, do you send them blatant marketing promotions (the back seat adventure) instead?
Here’s an example. I have lately subscribed to a newsletter on how to improve my presentation skills. The website looked informative and the site owner promised to send me tips on how to improve my speaking and presentation techniques. This all sounded just right for me. So I readily signed up. A few weeks down the line- I received an email that has a subject line that reads: "This month's presentation tips". I was delighted, until I found that the email contains no tips - but an ad to purchase a book on presentation skills. I felt exploited (spammed)! I replied to the email to vent my feelings, to which I received a curt reply saying- "well if you don't like it just unsubscribe". How come that doesn't make me feel any better?
The nice secure escort to my destination had other things on his mind. I recognise that we all have to make a buck and nothing in life is free… yada, yada yada, but I would prefer not to start my relationships off with a lie wouldn’t you?
So if you have promised relevant news and tips to your customers keep your promise. Don’t send hard sell ads. People know the difference.
While the Spam Act has no specific guidelines on this, we should all exercise some basic etiquette. After all it’s all about trust. Don’t abuse it because once its broken there is no going back. In the post SPAM act 2003 era NO really does mean NO.
Story by : Poochee Yuen
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Hot Property
You are a member based organization, charity, professional association or even a commercial operation with a regular value added e-newsletter. Can you effectively include advertising in your newsletter, charge for it and yet not dilute your branding and your message?
Of course you can. You own one of the hottest pieces of property in the advertising world. Your newsletter is an advertisers dream. Think about it. You have a strong demographic profile of your readers. They trust you and expect your newsletter. If you have been doing your job well you probably enjoy and open rate of 40% and above. You can accurately measure this.
Now, advertisers that get their message carried in your publication know exactly who will be reading their message. The Advertiser can tailor the message to that specific audience for maximum impact.
Choose your advertiser carefully
Deciding who will advertise is the next challenge. If you have a sizeable and qualified database you won't have a shortage of choice, so select well. make sure they company is respected by your subscribers and you. By carrying their ad you may be seen as an endorser of their product or service. Its not like printing a newspaper.
Single or Multiple Adverts
In most cases I recommend that you carry only one advert per edition of your newsletter. You can rotate them from edition to edition or have them rotate automatically using ad serving services if you really have too many to handle. Keeping the ads limited to one increases the exclusive appeal - and the associated cost.
How to charge
This is the biggest challenge. There are several models but I will explain the ones I like best for their simplicity and flexibility.
- Fixed sponsorship. Approach your top selected prospective advertisers. Offer a fixed term sponsorship arrangement (one year is normal). Make sure you set a reasonable figure based on frequency and reach otherwise you may end up negotiating for months and all that time losing revenue
- Open Market. Set up a rate sheet for your ad space and offer it to your advertisers on a per ad basis. This gives you the flexibility to increase rates as demand increases but is a little more work to administer.
What is the downside - you knew there would be one
As I mentioned in the beginning you don’t want to dilute your message or your image. You will need to get top level clearance of course. Once established it is important that you set a standard for the type of advertisers and the style of the message - not only what it says, but the look and feel of it. Advertisers will want high impact and bold positioning. Don't cave into demands that will jeopardize your brand. Don't accept rich media content such as Flash animations. These will not display in many e-mail browsers. If it must be animated use what is called an animated gif.
Why allow ads?
Well I don't know one member based association, NFP or commercial entity that couldn't find ways to allocate extra funds. My personal favourite though has to be using the revenue to upgrade the content and management of the newsletter itself. Hire professional writers and researchers, use a professional service like PeopleLogic that makes your job easier (note the shameless plug) or create a campaign to increase your subscription base so you can up the advertising rates.
Still stuck for an advertiser? Call me. We work closely with advertisers and media owners (yes that's you - there's a mini Murdock in every newsletter). We can help marry the advertiser with the right publication and assist in the implementation and strategy to make everyone happy.
Reach me on 1300 737 277 and ask for Paul.
Story by : Paul Hodgson
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