Uncertainty in the market, customer behaviours are constantly evolving and the market is becoming even more competitive. It’s been a quite a journey for the past 12 months!
Perhaps one area there won’t be any change however is the expectation of marketing departments. The main objective for most marketeers will almost always be delivering the highest ROI for every pound spent. That becomes increasingly difficult when marketing budgets are reduced and expectations remain the same, resulting in every penny spent being scrutinised to ensure it justifies the expense.
Sometimes, large portions of a marketing budget can be allocated to delivering generic campaigns with little impact on their target audience and no real outlook on the ‘bigger picture’ to determine just how successful the campaign might have been.
Some of the most common feedback from recipients of such marketing campaigns are:
- The content is ‘samey’ and unoriginal
- The content lacks personalisation
- They are too frequent
A smaller marketing budget is of course understandable for some given the current economic landscape. So how can marketers ensure they get better return on their investment? Here are some tips to consider:
What are the best channels for your business or products?
With so many channels to engage with your audience, how can you ensure you are communicating effectively? One thing that’s certain is your campaigns should be mixed and varied across multiple channels. We all engage with content in different ways, be it through social media or direct mail, there’s certainly so one size fits all formula when it comes to engaging with your target audience. We need to understand where are customers are and ensure we have a presence in those spaces.
The Easier the better
This may seem like an obvious tip, yet so many brands and businesses prioritise what’s easiest for them ahead of what’s easiest for the customer. With attention spans getting shorter and shorter (around 8 seconds for an adult at the last count), it’s vital we capture our customer’s attention as quickly as possible. Testing is key here; ensure you are testing each campaign you plan on sending to your target audience. Is it easy to understand? Does it capture your attention? Is your call to action clear enough?
Do you understand the customer journey?
We’ve all engaged with a brand, be it via a purchase or signing up to receive some content, only to then be targeted continuously with social media ads or emails. How many of us unsubscribe as they’re just not relevant to what we want to see or engage with? It’s this all encompassing approach that should be re-considered. When you fail to recognise the what impact the customers behaviour has on their journey, it can become quite damaging to future communications. There is enough insight and data available to be predicting your customers next move with relevant content and info, without targeting them with the same pre-purchase content.
Retention or acquisition?
This is one of the biggest conundrums for marketers. Focus on new business or target your loyal customer database? We often see businesses market to these two very different groups with the same content, with unsurprisingly unsuccessful results. Perhaps consider dedicating a sperate budget to customer retention, offering better incentives and value as a reward for their continued loyalty. New customers are great, and we’d all love more of them, but they should be approached very differently to your existing ones.
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, if you require any assistance or would like to discuss your own direct mail campaigns, we’d be happy to help.
