Are You Testing?
What this means is that you are taking multiple images, copy and and tweaking your marketing message and its appearance to separate mailing list groups. If you send direct mail, a great way for you to start is to segment half of your mailing list and separate male and female customers on that list. Do one postcard mailing without variable data printing on heavy paper stock, do the second half of the postcard mailing on a lighter paper stock with variable data printing. Your print services provider will discuss with you how a campaign like this is executed, so ask questions about what your options are and what typically works for generating response rates-then see what is working for you!
Campaign testing is only a strategy that determines which words and images make your prospects WANT you! Simple, right? Don’t complicate things by feeling like your marketing campaign is simply ineffective, because after three print mailers you’ve had a low response rate. Instead, use a more effective strategy and figure out a formula that works for you and your consumer. Maybe it’s your direct response copy, maybe it’s the paper stock, and maybe it’s the size of the mailer. In the long run managing the response rates of the multiple versions of the mailer will allow you to save money on ineffective strategies.
We all know that creative imagery with advertising is great because it’s attention grabbing and effective all-around. But creativity and relevancy are equally important. This is why variable data printing is utilized in print marketing campaigns. Sure, you are branding your company and keeping yourself at the forefront of the consumer’s mind so that they will think of you when they need your services, BUT you can’t negate the fact that unless they need you and want you, there will be no sale. Don’t be afraid to appeal to your various customers in unique ways.
For example, have you seen the new Honda Odyssey advertisements? I was driving on the freeway and the Honda ad was really getting on my nerves. “Vanquility, I thought? Are they just using smart words that I, and most of the population, don’t have in their vocabulary? Moreover, why are they being exclusive and using a word only certain people know?!” As a writer, it bothered me that there was a word I didn’t know. After seeing the billboard advertisement a couple more times, I realized “Vanquility,” indeed, wasn’t a word. The goal of using the word in the advertisement was to convey a journey of pure van bliss.
The advertisement for Honda did two key things. First, they got my attention by taking the risk of using a non-existent word. Second, they kept the advertisement simple with one image and one word. The brilliance behind this is that Honda appealed to me because they got my emotions involved. I was irritated and a little frustrated and also confused. You would assume that these are not emotions you want a prospect to feel before a sale, but clearly the goal of a successful advertisement is to understand the psychology of the human. So have fun testing different print marketing campaign methodology and never just choose one way. There are many roads to success and they are the roads not typically traveled.
