Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore and shows how understanding how to use social media in your marketing will change the way you do business.  Effective social media strategies will lower (or eliminate) your advertising costs and strengthen relationships with your customers.

According to a 2004 ESPN poll, 68 percent of Americans are NFL fans. And guess what…if you target these fanatics they will patronize your restaurant.

Just ask Buffalo Wild Wings, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Checkers Drive-In, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Subway, Quiznos Sub, Firehouse Subs, Taco Bell, Continue Reading

I’ve gotten countless calls from worried clients – petrified because a big competitor was sauntering in to town. Maybe Domino’s, Pizza Hut, whatever. They’re all freaked out and want to get some “inside secret” on beating back the threat.

Indeed, a new competitor is rarely good news. But, there may quite possibly be – a silver lining to this ominous dark cloud. Here’s why… big players come to town with a loaded bank account. They have a years worth of marketing cash – set aside. And they love to spend it.

Occasionally the big guys falter – but not very often. But, what if you could use their ocean of cash to help increase your sales? Say what? Continue Reading

Key Design Elements for an Effective Direct Response Mailing

Before submitting your mailing, review this list to see if you are covering these important elements. They are designed to maximize your return on investment.

1. Keep it simple
Generally you should only have one major communication point. It is OK to include one or two sub points. Generally speaking, a 12 year old child should be able to understand your message.

2. Call to action
The biggest complaint from those new to direct response mailings is that it wasn’t effective. Your biggest focus of the mailing should be to communicate your goal. For a restaurant it’s to logon to a website for online ordering or visit the store.

If possible, give your potential customers more than one option. Make your call to action simple, clear and in a place they can’t miss it. (Often it is towards the bottom of your communication and is rather large in size.)

All offers should have an expiration date and could include words such as “Hurry, Offer Ends Soon”, or “Limited Time Offer”. If you are using standard (bulk) postage, the suggested expiration date is about two months after the mailing is delivered to the post office.

3. Measurability
It’s critical that you include a mechanism to measure the responses from your mailing. Direct response mailings offers great accountability compared to mass marketing vehicles. These mechanisms could include: coupon codes, a special toll free number, a special web page that you can track, a code on a reply card, or simply asking everyone who visits “how did you hear about us”. (The last one is subject to human error, so try to use another method if possible.)

4. Personalization
Studies have shown that personalization, such as simply including “Dear John” to your mailing can raise response rates from 30 -80%. To really get your biggest bang for your buck, work with a creative team that can develop a communication where the personalization is integrated into the creative, not used as simply
an afterthought.

Best of all, with new digital printing capabilities, you can often utilize personalization at a lower cost than doing non-personalized mailings through a traditional printer!

5. Use of Color
Generally people pay much more attention to color and response rates usually go up from 40 – 300 %. Digital printers offer very affordable rates on full color without minimums.

6. Violators
A “Violator” is something that brakes through one’s thoughts, something that stands out in your mailing to gain attention. On a post card, place a colorful start burst on the address side, in case they see this first. On an envelope, place a message under your return address. Example wording: “Save $10, see reverse side”,
“Learn How to Protect Your Home, details inside”.

7. Return Address.
The post office requires this for third class mailing, however, it is strongly suggested that it be included on every piece of mail. It gives the customer confidence that you’re a legitimate business and that they could find you if needed. Also, although they are not supposed to, there have been reports that the postal service has delayed mailings without return addresses. So why take the chance?

8. Company Background
You might not have a lot of space to do this, so it can be as simple as a tag line. Include something that will give the customer confidence in your business. This could be placed close to your logo. Examples: “Serving Anytown since 1950″ or “Voted Best Italian Food In Anytown”.

9. Specifications
Be sure your document meets the Post Offices and your printers specifications BEFORE you give it to the printer. It is not uncommon to pay for printing, only to have it rejected by the post office! Good mail houses will check this out for you. Be sure that all images are at least 300 DPI.

10. Spell Check. Date Check
Always be sure to check for spelling. If you are using text boxes, it might contain all the words and letters, but sometimes they are cut off, so please proof carefully. If you are having an event, or a deadline, be sure to consider how long it will take to arrive to the recipient.

If time is not critical, standard (bulk) postage is a great way to save money, but be aware that the post office makes no guarantees about delivery, so it could take almost a month to be delivered. Generally Standard Mail takes about 7-21 days to deliver, but longer when the post office is busy, such as in December.

Most experts agree that one of the most important parts of mailing is not anything mentioned in this article, it is the address list. Even if you have the best designed piece in the world, if you don’t send it to the right people, you won’t have a solid response