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We Predicted The Future Of Cross-Media. Or Did We?

May 6, 2010 10:00 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Easypurl Team

We predicted the future of cross-media 20 months ago. Read it here.

We decided it was time to evaluate the accuracy of our prophecies. And boy, are we feeling smug!

What we said then:

• Personalized URLs – “…Personalized URLs are more than a gimmick,” we urged, explaining how Personalized URLs and Cross-Media Services are the future of direct marketing. Well, they are now the present. Marketers we speak with call us because they want Personalized URLs now, and not because they are considering a Personalized URL campaign sometime in the distant future. Personalized URLs have come of age and are here to stay.

• “Marketers are looking for programs with quantifiable ROI,” we said. This prediction is now truer than ever, as marketers are now looking for programs with quantifiable ROI ONLY. In fact, it’s a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for most campaigns. During the recent downturn, this trend accelerated. Why? Because with marketing budgets slashed companies were forced to do more with less. Now that the economy is recovering and many new opportunities are emerging, the good old days of “spray and pray” are ancient history. Marketers today are searching for solutions with demonstrable success.

• We also predicted a trend where commercial printers would “transition to a solutions provider, and offer higher value services…” That transition from old-school to new-school direct marketing is in progress, and if anything, has accelerated in recent months. Printers today have changed and are now acting like real marketing companies. In fact, our recent trip to Philly for the OnDemand Conference showed us just how far many of these innovative firms have come.

• “Imagine having the ability to take your clients’ direct mail list and append it with Personalized URLs and IMBs [Intelligent Mail Barcodes] that enable direct mail tracking with the United States Postal Service…,” we asked then. No more imagination needed. IMBs are a reality and are commonly used across the industry today. What’s more, by combining email triggers and IMB delivery data, many marketers are sending out triggered email communications to mail recipients the same day their mail has been confirmed to be in-home. This approach has been shown to boost response by as much as 30% in some cases. Click here to learn more about this interesting technology.

Okay, we’re now wiping the smug look off our face, because there are a couple of things we didn’t point out at that time. 1. Mobile marketing has taken off after a long delay. In fact, we feel this year is the year that mobile marketing finally comes of age, and it is definitely has a bright future in the world of Cross-Media Marketing. Recent technology advances such as QR Codes are definitely playing a big role in this trend. 2. Big advertising agencies have now begun to adopt Personalized URLs and other cross-media tools into their clients’  campaigns. They might have come late to the Cross-Media party, but many large agencies – including Wunderman, BBDO, Draft FCB, G2, etc. – are getting into Cross-Media in a big way.

Stats update: We said in the article that “broadband penetration in the country surpassed the pivotal tipping point of 51 percent last year. So, it isn’t surprising that according the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), 43 percent of all consumers prefer to respond to direct mail promotions online…”
The updated stats now say that broadband penetration is 62 percent, and 52 percent of consumers now prefer to respond to direct mail promotions online.

Can think of a million more points that could burst our “smug bubble”? Hit the “Comments” button and knock yourself out.

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Posted in: Uncategorized ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Web-To-Print Or PURLs?

April 30, 2010 5:08 pm ⋅ 2 Comments ⋅ Easypurl Team

What is the better way to upgrade your business – move-up to Web-to-print, or add cross-media services?

Decisions, decisions. Let’s see if we can help.

You have ask yourself why you are upgrading your business. If it is to build better customer relationships and increase margins, Web-to-print can help you do that. But, if your goal is to increase sales and drive-up revenue, cross-media tools are what you need.

Here’s why.

Web-to-print helps streamline your ordering process and the time spent on each order. It makes it easier for your customers to do business with you. But, it has a long set-up period. It takes substantial time and effort to set up individual storefronts for each customer and train them to use the system. This means it can take months and even years to start seeing any ROI.

A PURL is a customer acquisition tool. It is used to drive new sales, quickly. It is a stand-alone feature that generates ROI within weeks. While web-to-print is a feel-good feature that makes your current customers happier, PURLs are aggressive sales and marketing tools that generate sales.

Ideally, progressive companies will ultimately have both Web-to-print and cross-media tools. It’s just a question of which one first.

You’re totally welcome.

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Why Your Email Campaign Needs PURLs. Now!

April 29, 2010 7:39 pm ⋅ 2 Comments ⋅ Easypurl Team

You’ve been running successful email campaigns for years, why bother adding PURLs now? Well, why would you shout from the rooftop when you can have one-to-one conversations with each of your customers?

Email is just a message that you send out to your target. You lose control of the email once you hit send. A PURL is a response mechanism that’s included with your message on an email or a direct mail piece or Web page.

With email, you’re just pushing information out. With a PURL campaign; you’re drawing your audience into your network.  Not only that, a PURL lets you track your audience’ s behavior.

We know what you’re thinking; you could track and measure your response rate by just inserting a landing page into your email. Why PURLs?

A landing page can only track whether or not people read the email and clicked on the landing pages, incomparable to the personalized experience that a PURL campaign provides.  PURLs increase your click-through rate because a PURL is more attractive than a landing page. With PURL software, you can personalize any email content based on business rules. Using a cross media platform, you can trigger follow-up email based on your audience’s actions and non-actions.

With email, you’re just pushing information out. With a PURL campaign; you’re drawing your audience into your network. Not only that, a PURL gives you access to your target’s information and behavior.

The moment when a recipient clicks on a PURL is when his emotional interest is at its peak. A PURL lets a marketer seize that moment, and milk it for automated lead nurturing, scoring and transfer.

Email is now the vehicle that delivers your PURLs to your audience.

Here is a typical PURL campaign workflow:

  • Marketer sends out variable email blast with a PURL in the body. (Here the objective of the email message is to get the recipient to click on the PURL.)
  • If the recipient clicks on the PURL, he is taken to a customized landing page that is at the highest point of relevancy possible to him.
  • When the customer responds to the PURL, a variable email is sent to him. The email will appear to come from an appropriate salesperson.
  • Conversation with prospect initiated!

Here is an email campaign workflow:

  • Email sent
  • Email delivered
  • Email read or not read.

Okay, let’s try that question again: You’ve been running successful email campaigns for years, why bother adding PURLs now?

Answer: What! You haven’t yet added PURLs to your email campaign?

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Common Mistakes In Cross Media Sales

April 20, 2010 12:12 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ easypurl

We have put together six common mistakes that we have seen cross media sellers make.

The keyword here is “common” – everybody does it. So if any of the below points apply to you, don’t sweat it, it just means you are normal. And the best part is that they are simple to correct or avoid.

Here they are:

Selling on response rate increase: Many service providers promise increased response rates while making a cross media sales pitch. While cross media tools will definitely help a campaign succeed, a campaign’s response rate depends on various factors like the message, list quality, industry type, etc. A cross media service provider has no control of these factors. As generous as your heart is, you don’t want to take-on the blame if the marketer screws up, do you?

Overlooking campaign objectives: Many resellers are used to the old way of doing business. They tend to focus on selling a feature or product, and ignore the bigger picture – that is, they don’t view the marketing campaign as a whole. (You need to “begin at the end,” remember?) The only way to design a successful campaign is to understand what the objectives are, and channel all activities towards those objectives.

Setting goals that are impossible to reach: Oversell, overpromise. We all have done that. It is especially tempting to do that while trying to sell a new set of services. One way to avoid this is to think of yourself as a partner to your customers, rather than a vendor and tune yourself to your customers’ goals and difficulties. This way, you will be able to sell a realistic solution instead of just unloading a bunch of services and products onto the customer.

Focusing on costs, and not possible results: Let the effectiveness of a campaign be your selling point, not the price. As we’ve said before, a campaign’s expected results determine how it is designed. A cross media campaign involved intangible products and services, and variable costs that vary depending on the complexity of the campaign. By offering discounts, or setting price limits, you are limiting the campaign’s possibilities. A failed campaign rarely results in repeat business for a service provider.

Positioning PURLs as a gimmick, rather than a solution: PURLs are more than just links that you insert into an email or a direct mail piece. They help marketers build effective campaigns. They make it easier for recipients to respond. They bridge the gap between print and the Web. They help make a campaign interactive. Sell PURLs on these deliverables, rather than as a stand-alone feature.

Failing to ask the right questions: Asking the right questions will automatically help sellers better understand the marketers’ objectives and challenges. The more questions you ask, the higher your success rate. Of course, the quality of questions matters too. Read last week’s post on “Questions To Ask Your Customer,” to know more.

Let us know if you have any to add to the list.

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PURLs + Social Media = Marketers' Dream Come True

April 16, 2010 3:49 pm ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅ easypurl

Imagine this. You plant a GURL (general URL) on a social network. A user responds to the link. Using the information he provides, you create a PURL and include a “forward to a friend” option with the offer. The user then forwards the offer to thirty people within his network. Ten of those thirty respond to the offer, and forward it to more people within their individual networks and in this way, the campaign goes viral.

What we’re talking about is combining the power of PURLs and one-on-one communication with the trust and reach of social media to create a campaign that grows itself!

We know, your head must be spinning just thinking of the possibilities. Calm down, breathe, and read on to find out how this works.

PURLs are effective because they are personal, customized and focused. Social media sites make a PURL experience even more exclusive and effective. How? People login to social networking sites there to receive and share information with their communities. They are more receptive to offers that they see on the site because they trust that social media network. This trust is much higher when they receive a link or offer from someone on their friends list, or a group or community they are acquainted with.

How a social networking site converts a GURL to PURLs: By planting a GURL on, say, a Facebook page, a marketer draws people into an offer. When they respond, their information is used to create a PURL that initiates a one-on-one dialogue between the potential customer and the brand.

How social media can make a campaign go viral: Forward-to-a-friend campaigns encourage recipients to send out an offer to their friends. When a user forwards a link to more people, an API draws information from the social networking site creates PURLs for each of the recipients and their friends, and lets them share the one-on-one experience within their networks.

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Questions To Ask Your Customers (Hint: It Pays To Be Nosy)

April 16, 2010 10:33 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ easypurl

Remember the good old days when all you needed to know from your customers was card color, type and quantity? Sigh.

They’re gone. With today’s cross media marketing campaigns, the more questions you ask your customers, the more likely you are to succeed.

We have spoken about how, to price a campaign, you need to “begin at the end.”  That just means – begin with finding out the campaign’s ultimate objective or target, and you do that by asking the right questions.

Questions like:

-Who are your customers?
-How many customers do you currently have?
-How many are active?
-How do you communicate with them?
-What is the universe of potential customers is in your local area?
-What is your margin on the services you offer?
-How much are you willing to spend for a customer?
-What is the lifetime value of a customer?

You get the drift.

Your aim is to think beyond pricing and costs, and look at the big picture – the marketing campaign. Ask the right questions and define an achievable objective, and you won’t miss your target. When you are armed with more (relevant) information, you are able to design smart campaign that has a high chance of success.

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How PURLs Are Priced

April 15, 2010 12:06 pm ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅ easypurl

Remember the setup costs that we spoke about before? PURLs are a huge part the setup cost of a campaign, and we thought it might help to understand how PURLs are typically priced.

Here is an example of a cost breakdown of a basic cross media campaign with PURLs

The setup cost for a basic, template-based campaign can range from $1,200 to $2,000*, and go up based on the complexity of the campaign.

PURLs tend to retail between 4-12 cents*, depending on the number of PURLs being bought.

For a short-run (less than 10,000 PURLs),the price of a PURL averages to around 10 cents*.

The price per PURL decreases with an increase in volume.

*Please note that prices, costs and margins mentioned here are for illustration purposes only, and do not reflect Easypurl.com’s or other vendors’ pricing.

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Why Pricing Marketing Campaigns Is Like Raising Kids…

April 15, 2010 11:08 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅ easypurl

Because each one requires special attention…because no two are the same…because raising the first one is hard, but raising the next ones becomes easier …(We want to say something about ROI, but we won’t.)

To price a cross media campaign, you first need to determine the setup costs and transactional costs. Setup costs are incurred each time a campaign is processed. That’s basically the materials, technology and resources that go into getting the campaign up and running.

Transactional costs of a cross media campaign will include distribution costs like PURLs, email services, and intelligent mail bar codes.

While transactional costs increase with the volume of a campaign, setup costs increase with the complexity of a campaign. So a simple PURL campaign will cost less than an elaborate one with multiple landing pages, email triggers, advanced web-design technologies like Flash, JavaScript, etc and , etc. A recurring campaign will have lower setup costs, as costs are amortized over multiple instances.

So before you price your campaign, consider both these costs. This means that no two campaigns can be priced in the exact same way, but it does not mean that every campaign will require a convoluted pricing process. Once you move away from the cost-per-piece approach, and price a couple of cross media campaigns, it will all be second nature to you. We promise!

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Pricing A Cross Media Campaign: BEGIN AT THE END

April 15, 2010 10:27 am ⋅ 3 Comments ⋅ easypurl

That’s right, begin at the end – start with the number of leads that the campaign is expected to generate.

It is understandably challenging for a printer to figure out how to price a cross media campaign for the first time. This is because printers have, all these years, based their prices on the cost per piece. That is, they calculated the total cost of materials for each piece of a set, added their margin, and that was their selling price.

A cross media marketing campaign does not exactly fit into that world.

A cross media marketing campaign involves more intangible products and services, and to price one successfully, you need to think about the campaign costs and the possible results that the campaign can achieve.

The variable costs are directly proportional the complexity or richness of the campaign. The fixed costs are lower for recurring campaigns. The expected results determine how the campaign is designed, and so that’s where your pricing strategy begins.

Thinking about the campaign with the expected results in mind will also increase the campaign’s success rate, and that will bring in more business for printers.

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QR Codes Shorten The Distance Between A Man And His PURL

April 13, 2010 3:00 pm ⋅ 10 Comments ⋅ easypurl

You send out a direct mail piece with a personalized URL. You’ve done your best with it, and it’s as perfect as it can get. There is one more thing you can do to increase the response rate – add a QR code to your mail piece.

What is a QR code? “QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone…” Read more at Search engine land.

It looks like this and can be scanned by most camera phones.

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Scanning the code will open up a PURL (or any URL that you want). So the recipient does not need a computer to check out his PURL. We love QR codes because they shorten the distance between a person and his PURL. And because they are so cool.

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They help increase a marketing campaign’s response rate because they:
-Eliminate the need to type
-Make PURLs portable – people are not always at a computer, but almost always have their phones with them

Other benefits:
-A QR code can be read with a mobile phone, opening up a new channel of communication
-QR codes can go anywhere, in any size – from a business card to a billboard

A QR code is a logical extension of your PURL, it fills the gap that other cross media marketing tools cannot.

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